proximo

Forms

proximō (present infinitive proximāre, perfect active proximāvī, supine proximātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin proximus (“nearest, next”) + -ō.^[2][3] De Vaan lists proximus among the derivatives of prope “near”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Apuleius,^[2][5] meaning to approach: in the Metamorphoses an old man comes near along the road.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Apuleius also used it of time, of dawn drawing near.^[2] Solinus construed it with the dative, of one region lying next to another.^[3][6] Lewis & Short call it post-classical and note that in a passage of Cicero the reading should be proxima.^[7] The OLD records a possible use by Pliny the Elder, where the manuscripts read proximat, in the sense of coming close in quality.^[2] The Vulgate has it with ad.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of approaching in place and time.^[2][9]
• end of the 2nd century AD – It appears in the Vetus Latina.^[5][9]
• first half of the 3rd century AD – Solinus uses it with the dative.^[3][9]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it with ad.^[8][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come near, approach.^[2][7]
2. To approach in time, be imminent.^[2]
3. To be near, lie next to.^[3][7]
4. (perhaps) To come close in quality.^[2]

Word family

• approximō

Usage notes

A separate adverb proximō, the ablative of proximus, means “very lately” in a letter of Cicero.^[3][6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de