Etymologically
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puto

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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
  • 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