praematurus Latin · revision 33494

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Plancus, in Cicero's letters|origins=ine-pro *meh2-tu-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [prae̯.maːˈtuː.rʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [pre.maˈtuː.rus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''praemātūrus''' (feminine praemātūra, neuter praemātūrum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prae-|mātūrus|t1=before|t2=ripe, timely]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan derives [[m|la|mātūrus]] from a noun [[itc-pro|*mātu-|t=ripeness]], [[ine-pro|*meh2-tu-|t=ripeness]], probably from the same root as [[m|la|mānus|t=good]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL records the adjective first in a letter of Plancus to Cicero, of a premature declaration, ''praematura denuntiatio'', by an unprepared good citizen; the adverb ''praemātūrē'' is older and already in Plautus.^(TLL)^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its two senses are ripened very or too early, and happening very or too early.^(OLD 2012) Columella speaks of the very early fruit of the cucumber,^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Pliny the Elder of training oxen at three years, later being too late and earlier too early.^(TLL) Of things that happen before their time it is used of death, from Velleius and Pliny on,^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) of ashes in Juvenal,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and often in Tacitus, of an early winter, of honours that make young minds proud, and of a head disfigured by premature grey hair.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The TLL notes it is frequent in Tacitus and Ambrose^(TLL) and has no comparative or superlative,^(TLL) though the comparative of the adverb is in the Digest.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Church Latin glosses it eager, premature, too early.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the adverb ''praemātūrē''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella, of very early fruit.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of early winter and premature honours.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it often.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1520s – English [[m|en|premature]] takes its sense “done before the proper time”.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Ripening very early or too early; of a birth, [[m|en|premature]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Happening very or too early, [[m|en|untimely]]; very prompt.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[mātūrus]]

+ * [[immātūrus]]

+ * [[praecox]]

+ * [[en|premature]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}