pronubus

Forms

prōnubus (feminine prōnuba, neuter prōnubum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + nūbō (“to marry (of a woman)”) + -us.^[2][1][3] The grammarian Eutyches already derived it from nūbō.^[4] The TLL takes the feminine prōnuba, the woman who served at a wedding, as the original word, with the masculine noun and the adjective as later formations.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The feminine is found first in Varro, as reported by Servius,^[3][5] and in Catullus,^[5] for the married woman who attended the bride and led her to the bridal chamber.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The poets made the goddesses of marriage prōnubae: Juno above all, who in the Aeneid gives the sign with Earth when Dido and Aeneas come to the same cave (prima et Tellus et pronuba Iuno dant signum).^[2] Virgil, Ovid and Lucan turned the image round and gave hostile powers the role, Bellona or a Fury presiding over an ill-omened marriage.^[2][5] The word could also be used of the wedding torch.^[2]

The adjective “of marriage, bridal” belongs to later Latin: Tertullian has a pronubus anulus, a betrothal ring, and pronubi canes for pimps,^[5][6][7] and Claudian speaks of a bridal night and a bridal torch.^[5][6] The masculine noun, the groomsman who stood by the bridegroom, rendering Ancient Greek παράνυμφος (paránumphos), appears in the Anthologia Latina, in Lampridius and in the Vulgate.^[5][6][3] In British medieval Latin it also meant a procurer or pimp.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro explains prōnuba as the attendant of the bride.^[3][5][4]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus has prōnubae in a wedding poem.^[5][3]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil calls Juno pronuba at the union of Dido and Aeneas.^[2][3]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses the adjective for a betrothal ring.^[5][7][3]
• c. 400 AD – Claudian uses it of a bridal night and a bridal torch.^[5][6][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses pronubi for the bridegroom's companions.^[5][3]
• 1419 – A British record uses it for a pimp.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of marriage, bridal, nuptial; promoting a marriage.^[5][6][7]

Noun

1. (masculine) A groomsman, the friend who attended the bridegroom.^[5][6][9]
2. (feminine prōnuba) A married woman who attended the bride and led her to the bridal chamber.^[2][5]
3. (feminine, of goddesses) A goddess presiding over a marriage, especially Juno; of hostile powers, Bellona or a Fury.^[2][5]
4. (Medieval Latin) A procurer, pimp.^[8]

Usage notes

Servius reports that Varro called prōnuba a woman who had married before, and to one husband only,^[4][5] and Festus that prōnubae were given to brides who were marrying for the first time.^[4][5] Isidore of Seville equates the word with paranympha.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.