Etymologically
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propensus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [proːˈpẽː.sʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈpɛn.sus][1]

Forms

prōpēnsus (feminine prōpēnsa, neuter prōpēnsum, comparative prōpēnsior); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin prōpendeō (“to hang down, incline”).[2][1][3] De Vaan lists prōpendeō among the derivatives of pendō “to hang, weigh”; most handbooks take that root as a variant of the root “to spin”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,[5] in whose Bacchides someone would rather anything than let a woman grow heavier by a feather's shaving of his money.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is weighted down, and of ground sloping, as in a land surveyor's levelling of sloping ground.[2] Above all it is inclined or disposed to something: Cicero has a man inclined to pardon, and says that Balbus' argument seemed to him nearer to the likeness of truth.[2] It is also ready, eager, willing: Cicero asks whether someone needs urging or is eager of his own accord.[2] Of gods it is favourably disposed: Ovid urges prayers to gods well disposed to pious vows.[2] Döderlein says that in the moral sense ⟨prōnus⟩ is inclination in general, ⟨prōclīvis⟩ more often inclination to good, and ⟨prōpēnsus⟩ to bad.[6] Church Latin glosses it inclined, disposed, favourable, and also heavy, important.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of something weighed down.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a man inclined to pardon and of eagerness.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of gods well disposed.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Weighted down, hanging down; of ground, sloping.[2][1][7]
  2. Inclined, disposed, prone (to); tending towards.[2][1][7]
  3. Ready, eager, willing.[2][1]
  4. Favourably disposed, partial.[2][7]
  • prōpendeō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ a b c d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson