Etymologically
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prosilio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [proːˈsɪ.li.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈs̬iː.li.o][1]

Forms

prōsiliō (present infinitive prōsilīre, perfect active prōsiluī or prōsilīvī or prōsiliī, supine prōsultum); fourth conjugation, third person-only in the passive[1] The perfect is prōsiluī, less often prōsilīvī or prōsiliī.[2][3] A declamation ascribed to Quintilian has the future prōsilibō.[3][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + saliō (“to leap”).[3][4][1] De Vaan traces saliō to Proto-Italic *sal-je- (“to jump”) and Proto-Indo-European *sh₂l-ie/o- (“to jump”), though he regards the root form as uncertain.[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἅλλομαι (hállomai, “to jump”) and Old Irish saltraid (“to trample”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is in Plautus, where a man says he rushed forward to scold a blameless friend.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to leap or spring forward, rush out, and with ad to rush into a course of action, as Horace's Ennius, who never sprang to sing of arms unless drunk.[3] Of liquids and the like it is to gush out, as Plautus' tears springing from joy, and of land to jut out, as in Pliny the Elder.[3] Columella uses it of plants shooting up, and Seneca of things springing suddenly into being.[3] Church Latin glosses it “spring, leap up”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of rushing forward and of tears springing out.[3][7]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of rushing to sing of arms.[3][7]
  • 1st century AD – Columella of plants shooting up.[3][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of land jutting out.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To leap or spring forward, rush forth.[3][2][1]
  2. To rush eagerly to a course of action.[3][1]
  3. Of liquids, to gush out; of land, to jut out.[3][2]
  4. Of plants, to shoot up; of things, to spring suddenly into being.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  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 k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de