prenso Latin · revision 32744

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=ine-pro *gʰ-n(e)-d-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''prēnsō''' (present infinitive prēnsāre, perfect active prēnsāvī, supine prēnsātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ It is also given as ''prehēnsō'',^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879) but the TLL finds that form only in poor manuscript variants.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is a frequentative, [[af|la|prehendō|-tō|t1=to grasp]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|prehendō]] to [[itc-pro|*χend-|t=to seize]] and [[ine-pro|*gʰ-n(e)-d-|t=to grab]], comparing [[grc|χανδάνω|tr=khandánō|t=to grab]]; the contracted ⟨prēnd-⟩ arose in compounds and was then taken as a new simple verb.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Its first quotations in the OLD are in Cicero, who uses it of canvassing for office.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is to grasp repeatedly or try to grasp, clutch at: Virgil has a man clutching at shadows in vain, Livy hands grasped as people come out, Tacitus soldiers seizing their comrades.^(OLD 2012) It is also to accost or buttonhole people to ask for help: Livy says a man would not even change his clothes or go round as a suppliant appealing to people.^(OLD 2012) Of candidates it is to canvass, as in Livy and Pliny the Younger.^(OLD 2012) Church Latin glosses it to grasp mentally.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of canvassing.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of clutching at shadows.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of buttonholing and canvassing.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus of soldiers seizing their comrades.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To grasp repeatedly or try to grasp, [[m|en|clutch]] at.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To accost, [[m|en|buttonhole]] (in order to appeal for help); of candidates, to [[m|en|canvass]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[prensātiō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[prehendo|alt=prehendō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}