praetexo Latin · revision 32598

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *teḱ-s-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [prae̯ˈtɛk.soː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [preˈtɛk.so]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''praetexō''' (present infinitive praetexere, perfect active praetexuī, supine praetextum); third conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prae-|texō|t2=to weave]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|texō]] to [[itc-pro|*tekse/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*teḱ-s-|t=to fashion]], with cognates such as [[sa|तक्षति|tr=tákṣati|t=to hammer, fashion]] and [[hit|takš-|t=to devise, undertake]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL dates it in prose from Cicero.^(TLL) Cicero describes an acrostic poem in which the whole is edged with the first letters of each sentence.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its literal sense is to weave in front, to edge or border: Ovid has gleaming purple bordering a cloak.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also to set in front or extend in front as a screen, as a marjoram plant casting its shade in Columella, and to preface: Cicero says that nature has put gentler beginnings before everything done with great force.^(OLD 2012) It is to clothe and, figuratively, to cloak: in the ''Aeneid'' a woman cloaks her fault with the name of marriage.^(OLD 2012) From this it came to mean to put forward as a pretext: Cicero says that no one can want an army without pretending a desire for a triumph.^(OLD 2012) In verse the manuscripts often confuse it with [[praetego|alt=praetegō]] and other compounds.^(TLL) English [[m|en|pretext]] comes, through French, from its noun ⟨praetextum⟩, from the 1510s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of an acrostic, of a preface, and of a pretext.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of cloaking a fault.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a purple border.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella of a plant casting shade.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1510s – English [[m|en|pretext|alt=pretext]], from its participle, through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|border]], [[m|en|fringe]], edge with something.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To set in front; to extend in front as a screen; to [[m|en|preface]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To clothe, screen; figuratively, to cloak, [[m|en|disguise]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To put forward as a [[m|en|pretext]], pretend.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[praetextum]]

+ * [[praetextus]]

+ * [[praetexta]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[texo|alt=texō]]

+ * [[en|pretext]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}