protractus

Forms

prōtractus m (genitive prōtractūs); fourth declension.^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin prōtrahō (“to draw forth, prolong”) + -tus, the suffix of verbal nouns of the fourth declension.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian (c. 160–220 AD) uses it in his work on prayer for a prolonging of the age,^[2][4][5] and a verse inscription of the 2nd or 3rd century AD speaks of the long delays of a lawsuit.^[2][1]

Semantic evolution

Besides the sense of time, Avienus used it in space for the stretching out of the horns of the constellation Taurus.^[2] In medieval British Latin it meant the dragging forth of supplies, extension in length, as of the threads of a spider's web, and prolongation in time.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it for a prolonging of the age.^[2][5]
• 2nd–3rd century AD – A verse inscription speaks of long delays.^[2][1]
• mid 4th century AD – Avienus uses it of the stretched-out horns of Taurus.^[2][5]
• 1245 – An English record uses it for the gathering of all kinds of provisions.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A postponement, delay; a prolonging.^[1][7][4]
2. A stretching out in space.^[2][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) A drawing out, extraction of supplies.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Extension in length; protraction in time.^[6]

References

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