Etymologically

proiectio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [proːˈjɛk.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈjɛk.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

prōiectiō f (genitive prōiectiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōiciō + -tiō, a noun of action.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author is Cicero,[4] who in the Orator advises bracchii proiectione in contentionibus, contractione in remissis: stretching out the arm in vehement passages and drawing it back in quiet ones.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

From the thrusting out of a limb[2][5] it was used of what juts out: in the jurists a projecting part of a building, and the right to build one.[2][5][6] Festus has it of a discharge or jet of liquid.[2][5]

In medieval British Latin it was a throwing, as of goods thrown overboard, and in alchemy the casting of a substance into the crucible that was to transmute the metal.[7] English projection entered in the late 15th century in this alchemical sense.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of an orator stretching out his arm.[2][4]
  • 2nd half of the 2nd century AD – Festus uses it of jets of liquid.[2][4]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it for a projecting structure over a neighbour's land.[2][4]
  • late 15th century – English borrows it as projection, a term of alchemy.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A thrusting forward (of a part of the body), extension.[2][5]
  2. (architecture, law) A projection of a building; the right to build one.[2][5][1]
  3. A discharge or jet (of liquid).[2][5]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A throwing.[7]
  5. (Medieval Latin, alchemy) Transmutation of metal by casting a substance into the crucible.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c 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
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com