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propino

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word propino

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek προπίνω
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek (προπίνω)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [prɔˈpiː.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈpiː.no][1]

Forms

propīnō (present infinitive propīnāre, perfect active propīnāvī, supine propīnātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek προπίνω (propínō, “to drink to someone”),[2][3][1] a compound of προ- (pro-, “before”) and πίνω (pínō, “to drink”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus,[2][4] of drinking to someone by tasting a cup and handing it on: in the Curculio a character says he drank to a man in a big cup, and the man drained it.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Plautus also has propino tibi salutem, “I drink your health”.[2][6] Ennius greets himself as the poet who serves verses to mortals as if passing a cup, and Terence uses it of handing someone over to be eaten, so that it came to mean to make a present of something.[2][6] Cicero has the toast propino hoc pulchro Critiae “I drink this to the fair Critias”.[5][3] In Pliny the Elder it is to give a medicine to drink.[2][6]

Christian writers used it of making people drink a cup of punishment or poison: the Vulgate's Jeremiah is told to take the cup of the wine of fury and give it to all the nations, and Augustine writes that poison was given to man to drink through a woman, and salvation through a woman.[7] The first syllable was long in comedy and often short in Martial and Juvenal.[2][8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of drinking to someone and of drinking a health.[2][4]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it figuratively of serving verses to mortals.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero quotes the toast to Critias.[5][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of giving medicine to drink.[2][4]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of giving the cup of fury to the nations.[7][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drink to someone, toast, pledge, by tasting a cup and passing it on;[2][5] salutem propinare to drink someone's health.[2]
  2. (figurative) To offer, present, hand over.[2][6]
  3. To give to drink, especially as a medicine.[2][3]
  4. (Late Latin) To make someone drink a cup of punishment or poison.[7]

Word family

  • propīnātiō
  • propīna
  • English propine
  • Italian propinare
  • Spanish propinar

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Propino.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/propino. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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