profectio

Forms

profectiō f (genitive profectiōnis); third declension^[1] Coins of Septimius Severus and Caracalla abbreviate it PROF or PROFECT.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin proficīscor (“to set out”) + -tiō.^[3][1][2] De Vaan lists ⟨proficīscor⟩ among the derivatives of faciō (“to make, do”), whose stem ⟨*fak-⟩ he traces to the aorist of Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is a line of Pacuvius quoted by Cicero: “glad at the departure, they watch the frolicking of the fish”.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a setting out, a departure, from Pacuvius and Cicero on, as in Cicero's speech to the senate after his return and in his letters, and in Caesar and Livy.^[3] Cicero also uses it once for the source of something: “let the provenance of the money itself be investigated”.^[3]

Church Latin has it for journey, departure.^[7] In Medieval Latin it is a military campaign.^[8]

Timeline

• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of a departure.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of departures and of the source of money.^[3][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A setting out, departure; a journey.^[3][5][1][7]
2. Provenance, source.^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A military campaign.^[8]

Related words

• proficīscor
• profectus

Usage notes

A separate Late Latin profectiō, from prōficiō (“to make progress, be useful”), means benefit or progress; it appears in the Old Latin Bible and in Augustine, and in Medieval Latin as “advancement”.^[2][6][8]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill