praeposterus Latin · revision 33069

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=la prae, la posterus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [prae̯ˈpɔs.tɛ.rʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [preˈpɔs.te.rus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''praeposterus''' (feminine praepostera, neuter praeposterum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prae-|posterus|t1=before|t2=coming after]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary)^(Etymonline) Etymonline renders it literally as "before-behind".^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lucretius has ''praeposterus ordo'', a reversed order,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Köbler dates it from Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means placed in the wrong order, inverted:^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Cicero wants nothing in a speech to be confused, discordant or back to front.^(OLD 2012) It also means happening at the wrong time, unseasonable: Pliny the Elder has figs out of season and a birth feet first, and Seneca an unseasonable cold.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) Of people and conduct it is wrong-headed or absurd: Cicero says a man was always perverse and preposterous, and asks what could be said or thought more perverse and preposterous.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Sallust and Pliny the Younger use it too.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The adverb ''praeposterē'' means in reverse order, as Cicero of delivering letters in reverse order.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Stelten glosses it "absurd, inverted, preposterous".^(Stelten 1995) English borrowed it in the 1540s as [[m|en|preposterous]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a reversed order.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of wrong-headed people and of order in a speech.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust of absurd men.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of an unseasonable cold.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 1540s – Borrowed into English as [[m|en|preposterous]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # In the wrong order, reversed, [[m|en|inverted]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Out of due time, [[m|en|unseasonable]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # (of people or conduct) Wrong-headed, perverse, [[m|en|absurd]], [[m|en|preposterous]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[praeposteritas]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[posterus]]

+ * [[en|preposterous]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}