Etymologically

proiecto

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Forms

prōiectō (present infinitive prōiectāre, perfect active prōiectāvī, supine prōiectātum); first conjugation[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōiciō (“to throw forth, cast out”) + -tō, a frequentative verb.[2][1][3] The TLL notes that the intensive or iterative force of the suffix is not apparent in its uses.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in a tragedy of Ennius, where Agamemnon says to his brother: ego prōiector, quod tū peccās; tū dēlinquis, ego arguor?, “I am cast out because you do wrong; you offend, and I am the one accused?”[3][4][5] The sense there is disputed: the OLD takes it as “banish, expel”, Lewis and Short and Georges as “reproach, accuse”, and the TLL as “expose to danger or punishment”.[2][6][4][3]

Semantic evolution

After Ennius it reappears only in Late Latin.[3] Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of an informer who exposed innocent men in aperta perīcula, “to open dangers”.[3][6][4] The Latin version of Oribasius uses it of hellebore roots taken out after a night in a radish, and the Latin version of Justinian's Novels of lavishing money.[3]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it in a tragedy.[3][4][5]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of exposing men to danger.[3][6][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To banish, drive out, expel.[2][6][1]
  2. To expose (to danger or punishment).[3][7]
  3. (Early Latin) To reproach, accuse.[6][4][1]
  4. (Late Latin) To take out, remove; to lavish (money).[3]

References

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