Etymologically
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providens

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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

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.