Etymologically
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provenio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [proːˈwɛ.ni.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [proˈvɛː.ni.o][1]

Forms

prōveniō (present infinitive prōvenīre, perfect active prōvēnī, supine prōventum); fourth conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + veniō (“to come”).[2][3][1] The verb veniō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *gʷem- (“to come”);[4][1] its present is inherited, with Latin ⟨n⟩ for the root's /m/.[4] The TLL compares the parallel compounds Ancient Greek προβαίνω (probaínō, “to step forward”) and Sanskrit and Avestan compounds of the same root with the same prefix.[3] Cognates of veniō include Oscan kúmbened (“has come together”), βαίνω (baínō, “to go”), Sanskrit गच्छति (gácchati, “to move, come”) and Gothic 𐌵𐌹𐌼𐌰𐌽 (qiman, “to come”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is in Naevius, where new orators “came forward”, foolish youths.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is to come forth or issue, and so to come forward into public notice;[2] Plautus has palam provenire “to come out, be divulged”.[2] Of crops and plants it means to come up or grow, as in Caesar, where the grain had grown scantily because of drought, and of persons and creatures to spring into being or turn up;[2] Ovid uses it of poems that arise from a calm mind.[2]

With an adverb it means to get on or turn out well or badly, a use found already in Plautus, and on its own to make good progress or prosper, as in Tacitus.[2] Lewis & Short note that Cicero does not use it.[5] Church Latin glosses it to originate, arise, succeed, result.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of new orators coming forward.[2][7]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a matter coming out and of things turning out well.[2][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of grain growing up.[2][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of poems coming into being.[2][7]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of an enterprise prospering.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To come forth, issue.[2][5]
  2. To come forward into public notice; with palam, to come out, be divulged.[2]
  3. Of plants and crops, to come up, grow; of persons and creatures, to spring into being, be produced.[2][5][1]
  4. Of products of the mind or of circumstances, to come into being, arise.[2][1]
  5. With an adverb, to get on, turn out well or badly.[2]
  6. To make good progress, prosper.[2][1]

Word family

  • prōventus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de