Etymologically
Log in

propinatio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 21 October 2026 at 00:30. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

propīnātiō f (genitive propīnātiōnis); third declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin propīnō (“to drink to someone's health”) + -tiō,[1][3][4] and that verb is borrowed from Ancient Greek προπίνω (propī́nō), from προ- (pro-, “before”) and πίνω (pī́nō, “to drink”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Seneca,[4] who uses it of drinking a person's health: in the De beneficiis he asks whether he should accept a favour from a man whose toast he would not accept.[3][2] Petronius has it in the same period.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

In Seneca's De ira Caligula plies an old man, whose son he had put to death, with repeated toasts (propīnātiōnibus crēbrīs).[3][2] Jerome uses it figuratively of the Lord's cup of wrath, which all nations must drink.[3] The word was also transferred from the toast to the drinking itself, a banquet: an Old Latin version of Esther has it so,[3] and an inscription uses it of a funeral feast.[6]

Medieval British writers used it for the act of giving to drink as well as for a toast;[7] Albericus of London explains that Ganymede earned his place among the stars by his service as Jupiter's cupbearer, and an account of 1463 uses it of serving out ale.[7]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of drinking a person's health.[3][4]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it of a toast.[3][4]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it figuratively of the cup of the Lord's wrath.[3][4]
  • 1463 – A British account uses it of serving out ale.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The drinking of a person's health, a toast, a pledge.[1][2][8]
  2. (by extension) A drinking party, banquet; also a funeral feast.[3][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The giving of drink.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c d 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
  8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier