Etymologically
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profectus

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Forms

prōfectus m (genitive prōfectūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōficiō (“to make progress”) + -tus, an action noun.[2][1][3] prōficiō is from prō- and faciō (“to make”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *dʰh₁-k- (“to make”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *dʰeh₁- (“to put”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro writes that whatever profit the owner gets from his land should be credited to farming.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan;[6] Ovid has ⟨sine prōfectū⟩, without success.[6] It is progress, headway, success, and material gain.[2] Charisius distinguishes it from the noun of departure, and Augustine notes that it is usually taken in a good sense.[3] Ausonius scans the first syllable short.[6][3] In medieval Latin it is moral progress, edification, and also interest, advantage.[7] English profit comes from it through Old French ⟨prufit⟩, in the 13th century.[8] Church Latin glosses it growth, increase, progress.[9]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of profit from land.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it.[6][5]
  • c. 362 AD – Charisius distinguishes it.[3][5]
  • mid-13th century – English profit, through Old French.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Progress, headway, advance, success.[2][6][9][1]
  2. Material advancement, profit, increase.[2][6][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Moral progress, edification; advantage, benefit.[7]

Usage notes

profectus is also the participle of proficīscor, "having set out", and the TLL has a rare noun profectus from that verb, "departure", which glossaries explain as a journey abroad.[6][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson