Etymologically
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progener

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Forms

prōgener m (genitive prōgenerī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + gener (“son-in-law”),[2][1][3] formed beside that noun as pronepōs stands beside nepōs.[4] The base goes back to Proto-Italic *g(e)mro- and Proto-Indo-European *ǵ(e)m-ro- (“son-in-law”);[5] it is cognate with Ancient Greek γαμβρός (gambrós, “son-in-law”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Seneca,[3] who lists the family of Titus Pomponius Atticus: gener Agrippa et Tiberius progener et Drūsus Caesar pronepōs, “his son-in-law Agrippa, his grandson-in-law Tiberius and his great-grandson Drusus Caesar”.[4][6]

Semantic evolution

Festus defines it as the name a grandfather gives to the husband of his granddaughter, and the jurist Modestinus sets it out in his table of in-laws.[4][6] Suetonius tells of a conspiracy of Augustus' grandson-in-law Paulus,[4] and Tacitus speaks of Felix as the grandson-in-law of Antony and of the four grandsons-in-law of Tiberius.[4] Ausonius still uses it beside sons and sons-in-law.[4] An inscription calls Stilicho the progener of Theodosius, whose niece he had married.[4]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca calls Tiberius the grandson-in-law of Atticus.[4][3]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of Augustus' grandson-in-law.[4][3]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the grandsons-in-law of Antony and Tiberius.[4][3]
  • first half of the 3rd century AD – Modestinus defines it in the Digest.[4][3]
  • c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it.[4][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The husband of one's granddaughter, a grandson-in-law.[2][6][7]

References

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