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professus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word professus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD, Phaedrus
Ultimate origin
Latin profiteor
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin profiteor
Latin professus
From the same root
Latin professor ← profiteor

Forms

prōfessus (feminine prōfessa, neuter prōfessum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin profiteor (“to declare openly, profess”): the perfect participle of that verb, used as an adjective with a passive sense.[1][2][3] The verb is a compound of prō- and fateor (“to admit”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Phaedrus uses it in the sense “declared, avowed”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Seneca speaks of prayers that are aperta et professa, “open and avowed”.[2] The phrase ex professō (also dē professō) meant “openly, without dissimulation”, and is found in Seneca, Quintilian, Suetonius and Apuleius.[1][2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means “professed”, of someone who has taken religious vows.[5] Medieval Latin used it as a noun for a monk who had taken his vows, and for a master who had obtained the licence to teach.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it for “declared, avowed”.[2][3]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses ex professō “openly”.[1][3]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius writes of a brother who stirred up the armies paene ex professō, “almost openly”.[1][3]
  • 438 AD – The Theodosian Code has a noun professus for the profession of religion.[7][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. open, avowed, undisguised.[1][2]
  2. ex professō, dē professō: openly, avowedly, without dissimulation.[1][2][5]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) professed, having taken religious vows.[5]

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A monk who has taken his vows.[6]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A master who has obtained the licence to teach.[6]

Usage notes

A fourth-declension noun professus (genitive professūs), “profession (of religion)”, appears once in the Theodosian Code.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
Cite this entry

“Professus.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/professus. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·