procuro

Forms

prōcūrō (present infinitive prōcūrāre, perfect active prōcūrāvī, supine prōcūrātum); first conjugation^[1] The first syllable is scanned short in Accius, Tibullus and Ovid.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + cūrō (“to take care of”).^[2][1][4] That verb comes from cūra (“care”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kʷois-ā- (“care, watch”) and Proto-Indo-European *kʷei-s- (“to heed”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it of nurses who look after little children at home.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to look after or attend to a person or business, and religious rites: Cicero speaks of divine matters attended to.^[2] It is to have charge of or administer, especially as a prōcūrātor or agent: Cicero writes of a man who manages Dionysius' accounts and business.^[2] In religion it is to expiate or avert evil omens by sacrifice, as in Cicero's interpreting and expiating of portents.^[2] Church Latin glosses it to administer, govern, take care of, manage.^[6] English procure dates from about 1300, from Old French procurer and Late Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of nurses looking after children.^[2]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of managing business and expiating portents.^[2]
• c. 1300 – English procure.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To look after, attend to, take care of.^[2][3][1][6]
2. To have charge of, administer, manage (as an agent).^[2][1][6]
3. To expiate, avert (omens) by sacrifice.^[2]

Word family

• prōcūrātiō
• prōcūrātor
• prōcūrātōrius
• prōcūrātrix

Related words

• cūrō
• cūra
• English procure

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com