Etymologically
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procuro

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [proːˈkuː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈkuː.ro][1]

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

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