profestus

Forms

profēstus (feminine profēsta, neuter profēstum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + fēstus (“festive, of a holiday”),^[2][1][3] the counterpart of the holiday.^[4] The TLL notes that a negative with in- would have been expected, but īnfēstus already meant “hostile”; some scholars think the word was modelled on profānus (“not sacred”), although the second part of that word is a noun.^[4] De Vaan lists the adjective with fēriae (“holidays”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Plautus on,^[4] who uses it in the Aulularia of days that are not holidays.^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

It was used above all of days: Lucilius has fēstō atque profēstō diē, “on a holiday and a working day”,^[7] Cato blamed the man who did on working days what he owed to the holidays,^[6] and in Livy women claim the right to ride in carriages through the city on holidays and working days alike.^[6] Horace speaks of working days and sacred days,^[6][7] and Festus defines it as the opposite of a festival.^[6][4] Gellius used it, beside profānus, of the common, uneducated crowd.^[2][6]

Medieval writers used it of working days, also as a noun;^[8] Osbern of Gloucester glosses it as a very festive day, and it could also name the eve of a feast.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of working days.^[4][3]
• 234–149 BC – Cato blames work owed to holidays being done on working days.^[6][3]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius contrasts holidays and working days.^[7][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace speaks of working days and sacred days.^[6][3]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of the uneducated crowd.^[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of days: not kept as a holiday, ordinary, working.^[2][6][7]
2. (transferred, of people, beside profānus) Common, uninitiated, uneducated.^[2][6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) A working day.^[8]
4. (Medieval Latin, as a noun) The eve of a festival.^[8]

Related words

• fēstus
• fēriae
• profānus

Usage notes

Gellius says that the first syllable is pronounced short.^[4] Manuscripts confuse it with profectus and profectō.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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 e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d 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