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proculco

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word proculco

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Latin (calx)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin calco
Latin proculco

Forms

prōculcō (present infinitive prōculcāre, perfect active prōculcāvī, supine prōculcātum); first conjugation[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + calcō (“to tread, trample”).[1][3][4] That verb is derived from calx1 (“heel”);[5] de Vaan finds the comparison of the noun with Baltic and Slavic words for parts of the leg, such as Lithuanian kulkšnìs (“ankle, ankle-bone”), doubtful at best, and notes that some scholars have argued for a non-Indo-European, possibly Etruscan, origin, though no concrete source word has been found.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Lucretius on.[3] In Lucretius a hidden force seems to trample (prōculcāre) the fine fasces and cruel axes.[1][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note that it is mostly poetic and post-Augustan.[2] Literally it is to tread down or trample, of horses' hooves in Virgil, of cavalry trampling their own reserves in Livy and of a boar trampling young crops in Ovid;[1][2] Columella uses it of animals treading out pulse and of treading grapes for must.[1] Curtius uses it of a squadron ridden down, and of marching over snows.[1][2] Figuratively it means to trample on or despise: Tacitus has prōculcātō senātū, “with the senate trampled underfoot”.[1][2] Gellius uses the participle of words made trite by common use.[1][2] The TLL notes that manuscripts often confuse it with conculcō.[3]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it figuratively, of a hidden force.[3][1][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of trampling hooves.[1][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of cavalry trampling their own men.[1][2][6]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of threshing and of treading grapes.[1][6]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus writes of the senate trampled underfoot.[1][6]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses the participle of trite words.[1][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To tread down, trample on.[1][2]
  2. To tread out (pulse in threshing, grapes in wine-making).[1]
  3. To ride down, overrun; to tread over, traverse.[1][2]
  4. (figurative) To trample on, crush, despise.[1][2][4]
  5. (participle) Made trite by constant use; blunted.[1][2]

Word family

  • prōculcātiō
  • proculcator

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Proculco.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/proculco. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·