Etymologically
Log in

properus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 20:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈprɔ.pɛ.rʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɔː.pe.rus][1]

Forms

properus (feminine propera, neuter properum, adverb properē); first/second-declension adjective[1] An inscription has a nominative plural properēs.[2][3]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.[2][4] The TLL takes it as a back-formation from Latin properō (“to hurry”), and suggests that the adverb properē may have been formed first;[3] Servius' commentator already derived it from the verb.[3] De Vaan reports Panagl-Lindner's view that properō is an old compound *prō-parāre "to bring to the fore", and properus a back-formation from it.[5] Köbler likewise mentions *pro-parāre, after Walde and Hofmann, and Lewis & Short connect it with parō (“to prepare”).[4][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato has it first, of the third march out of camp being quick and hasty.[2][4] Festus reports Cato as evidence that the ancients used it for quick and energetic.[6]

Semantic evolution

It describes people acting in haste, as Virgil's charioteers standing ready, and actions that are hurried or early.[2][6] Seneca uses it of a hurried step.[2] Lewis & Short find it mostly in poetry and post-Augustan prose.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato of a hasty march.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of hasty charioteers.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca the Younger of a hurried step.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Acting with haste, quick, speedy; of events, hurried, early.[2][6][1]
  2. Moving in haste, hurried.[2]

Word family

  • improperus
  • praeproperus
  • properipēs

Usage notes

Döderlein groups it with festīnus: both express haste as the will to reach a goal in the shortest time, as opposed to segnis, while citus and celer express mere quick motion.[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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper