Etymologically

Etymology and origin of the Latin word procubo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
70–19 BC, Virgil
Ultimate origin
Latin cubō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cubo
Latin procubo
From the same root
Latin accubo ← cubo
Latin cubito ← cubo
Latin excubo ← cubo
Latin incubo ← cubo
Latin occubo ← cubo
Latin recubo ← cubo
Latin secubo ← cubo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈproː.kʊ.boː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɔː.ku.bo][1]

Forms

prōcubō (present infinitive prōcubāre, perfect active prōcubāvī, supine prōcubātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + cubō (“to lie down”).[2][1][3][4] The TLL notes that it expresses the result of prōcumbō (“to fall forward, lie prostrate”): to lie stretched out.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Virgil's Georgics, of the shadow of a rock that stretches out: ubi saxea procubet umbra, “where a rocky shade lies spread”.[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a rare poetic word.[5] Besides Virgil's spreading shade, Claudian uses it of the god Gradivus lying outstretched on the Getic Haemus: procubat horrendus Getico Gradivus in Haemo.[5][7][8] The grammarian Eutyches lists it with the conjugation -ō, -ās.[3]

Timeline

  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a rock's shade spreading out.[3][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To lie outstretched, lie at full length.[2][5][7]
  2. (of a shadow) To stretch out, extend.[8][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  9. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Procubo.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/procubo. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·