praealtus Latin · revision 33950

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Bellum Africum|origins=itc-pro *alto-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [prae̯ˈaɫ.tʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [preˈal.tus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''praealtus''' (feminine praealta, neuter praealtum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prae-|altus|t1=very|t2=high, deep]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|altus]] to [[itc-pro|*alto-|t=high]] and perhaps [[ine-pro|*h₂el-to-]]; he notes that it looks like the participle of [[m|la|alō|t=to feed]], although the meanings are hard to connect.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL reads it only in prose, from the ''Bellum Africum'' and Sallust on,^(TLL) and Köbler dates it from the ''Bellum Africum'',^(Köbler 2010) where a ridge rising from the sea is described as not so very high.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means very high: Livy has very high cliffs, and Pliny the Elder the high flight of birds.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012) It also means very deep, of water: Sallust has bays that are very deep near the land, Livy the mouth of a very deep river, and Pliny the Elder a deep sea.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The TLL finds it frequent in Livy, Curtius Rufus and Pliny the Elder;^(TLL) Lewis & Short note that Cicero and Caesar do not use it.^(Lewis & Short 1879) A comparative occurs only by conjecture, in Martianus Capella, and there is no superlative.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * late 1st century BC – The ''Bellum Africum'' of a ridge.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 86–34 BC – Sallust of deep bays.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of high cliffs and a deep river.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the flight of birds and a deep sea.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Very [[m|en|high]], lofty.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Very [[m|en|deep]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[altus]]

+ * [[altitūdō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}