procuratio

Forms

prōcūrātiō f (genitive prōcūrātiōnis); third declension^[1] An inscription of about AD 295 abbreviates it proc.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōcūrō (“to take care of, manage”) + -tiō.^[3][2][1] prōcūrō is prō- and cūrō (“to care for”), from cūra (“care”), whose origin de Vaan finds uncertain: it may go back to Proto-Italic *kois- or *kʷois-, perhaps from the root Proto-Indo-European *kʷei- (“to heed”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,^[5] who writes in On the Nature of the Gods that it makes little difference whether one denies the gods exist or deprives them of all care and activity.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the act of caring for something, then responsibility or charge over persons or things, and with cīvitātis or reī pūblicae the administration of the state, as Cicero speaks of his own share in public business.^[3][6] Under the Empire it is the office of a procurator, an agent or an imperial official, as Seneca of someone excused from the post by Caesar.^[3] In religion it is the expiation of a portent by sacrifice: Cicero calls for expiations and prayers.^[3][6] Church Latin glosses it administration, management, procuring.^[7] In Medieval Latin it is supply, maintenance, provisions, the right of a lord to be fed by his tenants, and the administration of the sacraments.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of care, of state administration and of expiatory sacrifice.^[3][5]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of the office of a procurator.^[3][5]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of a case of bad management.^[3][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Care, attention, concern.^[3][6]
2. Charge, responsibility; administration, management; with reī pūblicae, government.^[3][6][1]
3. The office of a prōcūrātor, procuratorship.^[3]
4. (religion) Expiation of a portent by sacrifice; an expiatory sacrifice.^[3][6]
5. (Medieval Latin) Supply, maintenance, provisions; the right of purveyance; administration of the sacraments.^[8]

Word family

• prōcūrātiuncula

Related words

• cūrātiō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill