pronepos
Forms
prō̆nepōs m or f (genitive prō̆nepōtis); third declension[1]
Etymology
It is from Latin pro- + nepōs (“grandson”).[2][3] The TLL notes that it matches the Rigveda's Sanskrit प्रणपात् (praṇapāt, “great-grandson”) in form and meaning, so that both may have one origin, and Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *prónepōts (“great-grandson”).[4][1] Many explain ⟨pro-⟩ by analogy with proavus, “before the grandfather”, but it may also have meant “far removed”.[4] De Vaan traces nepōs to Proto-Italic *nepōt- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂nep-ōt- (“male descendant, grandson, nephew”).[5]
Earliest recorded meaning
Köbler dates it from Ennius.[3]
Semantic evolution
It means a great-grandson, and Wiktionary also gives a great-grandchild of either sex.[2][1] Lewis & Short cite it from Cicero, Ovid and the Digest.[6] Sidonius scans the first syllable long.[6]
Timeline
- 204–169 BC – Ennius.[3]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero.[6][3]
- 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid.[6][3]
- c. 431–486 AD – Sidonius with a long first syllable.[6][3]
Meanings
Noun
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press