providens

Forms

prōvidēns (genitive prōvidentis, comparative prōvidentior, superlative prōvidentissimus); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the present participle from Latin prōvideō (“to foresee; to provide”).^[1][3][4] The verb is a compound of prō- and videō (“to see”),^[5] which goes back to Proto-Italic *wid-ē- and Proto-Indo-European *uid-eh₁- (“to see”).^[6] De Vaan explains prūdēns “prudent” as the regular contraction of the same participle.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler first records it in Cato;^[7] the dictionaries' earliest citations are Cicero's, in the Verrines and the letters.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

It means exercising foresight: provident, sagacious, careful.^[1][3] Of conduct or a course of action it means prudent or politic, as when Cicero calls something both better suited to brevity and the more prudent course for other matters.^[1][8] Sallust and Pliny the Elder use it too,^[2] and the superlative appears in Tacitus, in Pliny the Younger and, of an emperor, in Frontinus' work on the aqueducts.^[3][8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Köbler's earliest record, in Cato.^[7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of persons and of a prudent course.^[1][8][7]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it in the Jugurtha.^[2][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the superlative.^[8][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Exercising foresight, provident, sagacious, careful.^[1][3]
2. (of conduct) Prudent, politic.^[1][8]

Word family

• prōvidentia
• prōvidenter

Related words

• prūdēns

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
3. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.