procursus

Forms

prōcursus m (genitive prōcursūs); fourth declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōcurrō (“to run forward”) + -tus, an action noun.^[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Virgil and Livy on,^[3] Virgil using it of a rapid charge in battle.^[1] Köbler cites Lucretius, but the TLL treats that passage as a doubtful conjecture.^[4][3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a running forward, especially a charge or sally in battle: Livy uses it of a skirmish that began with the soldiers running forward rather than by plan or on the generals' orders.^[1][2] Virgil also uses it of the onrush of an axle, and Statius of running in general.^[1][5] Valerius Maximus transfers it to the outbreak of anger and the first appearance of virtue,^[1][5] and Pliny the Elder uses it in topography for a projection of the coast.^[1][5]

In medieval Latin it meant progress or development,^[6] as in Bede and in Henry of Huntingdon on the rise of the kingdom of the Franks.^[7]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a charge in battle.^[1][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of soldiers running forward.^[1][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of a projection.^[1][4]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of running.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A running forward, especially a charge or sally in battle.^[1][2]
2. Forward movement, onrush (of things).^[1]
3. (figurative) The outbreak (of an emotion); the first appearance (of a quality).^[1][5]
4. (topography) A projection.^[1][2]
5. (Medieval Latin) Progress, development.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press