cura Latin · revision 2763

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *kʷeys-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkuː.ra]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkuː.ra]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cūra''' ''f'' (genitive cūrae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The spelling ''coira'' and ''coera'' lasted into the 1st century BC, and an inscription has ''qura''.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*kʷois-ā-|t=care, watch]], [[inh|ine-pro|*kʷeys-|t=to heed]], an s-present of the root *kʷei- “to take notice”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan calls this a possible rather than a certain etymology, and the OLD marks the origin as doubtful.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Cognate with [[pgn|coisatens|t=they took care]] and, if not borrowed from Latin, [[xum|kuratu]], and further with Celtic verbs for seeing such as [[sga|ad·cí|t=sees]], and with [[ae|cōišt|t=granted, allotted]] and [[ae|tkaēša-|t=teacher]].^(de Vaan 2008) Inscriptions of the 2nd and 1st centuries BC still write [[m|la|coira]] and [[m|la|coera]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Varro derived it from [[cor]] and [[uro|alt=ūrere]], “because it burns the heart”, an explanation repeated by Servius and Festus;^(TLL) Lewis and Short connect it with [[caveo|alt=cavēre]].^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan takes [[securus|alt=sēcūrus]] “free from care” as formed directly from it, while [[curiosus|alt=cūriōsus]] may be a back-formation from [[incuriosus|alt=incūriōsus]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus onwards;^(de Vaan 2008) the earliest quotation in the OLD is from Ennius, who writes of helping someone or lightening their [[m|en|care]].^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010) Köbler too dates it from Ennius.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its two main senses were [[m|en|anxiety]] or worry, and careful attention or pains, as in Ennius' “attending with great care”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From attention came the literary work one labours over, the medical treatment of a patient (Cato promises a quick [[m|en|cure]] “by this treatment”), and the rearing of animals and plants, the subject of Virgil's ''Georgics''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ It also meant concern or love, and poets called a beloved person or thing someone's ''cura''.^(OLD 2012) In public life it was the administration or charge of something, the command of an army, the [[m|en|guardianship]] of minors in law, and a task or post.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Medieval Latin added the cure of souls, the spiritual charge of a parish, the office of a parish priest and the Mass.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(Köbler 2010) The Romance languages keep it as Italian, Spanish and Portuguese ''cura'' and Old French ''cure'',^(Wiktionary) from which the English word (c. 1300) took first the sense “care” and, in the late 14th century, “medical treatment”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it of anxiety and of careful attention.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus writes of wasting away with care and tears.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a medical treatment and of eagerness for food.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the administration of a province and of a task.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of the care of oxen and calls a beloved a ''cura''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 823–825 – A capitulary has the medieval sense of spiritual charge.^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1300 – [[en|cure|alt=Cure]] is borrowed into English.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|anxiety|alt=Anxiety]], worry, distress; a particular worry.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Careful attention, pains, diligence.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The object of one's study; a written work.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The treatment of a patient or illness; the rearing of animals or plants.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Concern, solicitude; love; a beloved person or thing.^(OLD 2012)

+ # Administration, charge, command, and in law [[m|en|guardianship]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A task, a post.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The cure of souls; the spiritual charge of a parish; the Mass.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[curagendarius]]

+ * [[cūragō]]

+ * [[cūriōsus]]

+ * [[cūrō]]

+ * [[sēcūrus]]

+ * [[domicurius]]

+ * [[sollicūrius]]

+ * [[cūrius]]

+ * [[incūria]]

+ * [[tricūrium]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|cure]]

+ * [[en|curious]]

+ * [[en|secure]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein groups ''cura'', thoughtful apprehension (opposed to [[incuria|alt=incūria]]), with [[sollicitudo|alt=sollicitūdō]], anxious disquiet, and [[angor]], anguish, all of them directed at a future evil, whereas [[dolor]] and [[aegritudo|alt=aegritūdō]] concern a present one.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}