puto

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpʊ.toː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpuː.to]^[1]

Forms

putō (present infinitive putāre, perfect active putāvī, supine putātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin putus (“clean, pure”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *puto- (“cut off, clean”), Proto-Indo-European *pHu-tó-.^[2][3][1] Its first meaning was to prune trees, cutting off unwanted branches.^[2] The senses “to think over” and “to reckon” grew out of this.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[2][4] where a slave tells his master to reckon up the account, rationem puta.^[3] Cato tells the farmer to begin pruning his vines and trees early.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant to clean, as wool, and to prune or lop trees and vines, as in Cato and Virgil.^[3][5][6] Rationem putare was to add up and settle accounts.^[3] From this it came to mean to go over in the mind, as Terence's “while I was thinking about this I walked past the house”, and Virgil's multa putans, “pondering much”.^[3]

It meant to estimate or count, as Cato's rule that certain tiles count as two, and to consider or regard, as in Terence's humani nil a me alienum puto, “I consider nothing human foreign to me”.^[3] It meant to think or suppose, and puto in parenthesis was “I think, no doubt”, often ironic.^[3] Its compounds computō, disputō, amputō and imputō gave many English words.^[1] It survives as Italian potare and Spanish and Portuguese podar, “to prune”.^[1] English count came through Old French from computare, and putative from Late Latin putativus.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for reckoning accounts.^[3][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for pruning.^[3][4]
• 190–159 BC – Terence writes humani nil a me alienum puto.^[3][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for pondering.^[3][4]
• late 14th century – English count is first recorded.^[7]
• early 15th century – English putative is first recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To clean (wool).^[5][6]
2. To prune, lop (trees, vines).^[3][8]
3. rationem putare To settle (accounts).^[3]
4. To ponder, think over.^[3][1]
5. To estimate, count.^[3]
6. To consider, regard (as).^[3][1]
7. To think, suppose, puto I suppose.^[3][1]
8. puta Suppose, for instance.^[3]

Word family

• amputō
• circumputo
• computō
• dēputō
• disputō
• exputō
• imputātus
• imputō
• interputō
• opputō
• perputō
• postputō

Related words

• putus
• English count
• English compute
• English dispute
• English amputate
• English putative

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press