proelium

Forms

proelium n (genitive proeliī or proelī); second declension^[1] Older editions often print praelium.^[2][3] In verse the plural is regularly used for the singular, for the metre.^[2]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][4] Klingenschmitt derived it from ⟨*pro-gʷel-io-⟩, comparing Middle Welsh ryvel (“war”), Lithuanian gélti (“to ache, sting”) and Old English cwelan (“to die”); de Vaan objects that such a form should have given ⟨*prūlium⟩ or ⟨*prōlium⟩, and finds no better root.^[5] Lewis and Short and Wiktionary mention ⟨*prō-duellium⟩, from duellum, the old form of bellum “war”.^[6][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on:^[5] victī utrī sint eō proeliō, “whichever side is beaten in that battle”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Proelium is an armed encounter, a battle, and also a fight between individuals.^[2][6] It is applied, often jokingly, to things like a battle, such as a drinking bout, and to conflicts in words, disputes.^[2] In poetry the plural can mean the fighters themselves.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – First found in Plautus, also of a feast: in eō uterque proeliō pōtābimus, “we'll both drink in that battle”.^[2][5][4]
• 234–149 BC – Used by Cato in a speech.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius: pugnāre ac proelia obīre.^[6][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a political fight on his behalf.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a boxing match.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A battle, armed encounter.^[2][6][3]
2. A fight, contest (between individuals).^[2]
3. (figurative) A battle (of a feast or other activity).^[2]
4. A conflict, dispute.^[2][1]
5. (poetic, plural) Warriors.^[1]

Word family

• proelialis
• proeliāris
• proeliātor
• proelior

Related words

• pugna
• bellum

Usage notes

Döderlein calls pugna any fight, aciēs a pitched battle between armies drawn up in line, and proelium an engagement between parts of armies; his English editor notes that proelium is also used of general battles, as in Nepos' illūstrissimum proelium apud Plataeās.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
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 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper