precarius Latin · revision 34047

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=la prex}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [prɛˈkaː.ri.ʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [preˈkaː.ri.us]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''precārius''' (feminine precāria, neuter precārium); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ Also spelled ''-eus''.^(OLD 2012)

+ Inscriptions also have ''praec-''.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prex|-ārius|t1=prayer, request]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Cicero,^(Köbler 2010) but Lewis & Short think Cicero used it perhaps only as the adverb ''precāriō'' “by request”, which Plautus and Terence already have, and find the adjective frequent only from the Augustan period.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Livy writes of help not merely begged as a favour but claimed as a due.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is what is given as a favour or held on sufferance, depending on another's goodwill: Livy has a tribune's power bringing help granted by favour rather than by right, and Tacitus a life held on sufferance.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Ovid uses it of a borrowed form.^(OLD 2012) In law the neuter ''precārium'' is something granted at request for as long as the grantor allows, and the adjective concerns tenancy at will.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) From this it comes to mean uncertain, insecure, precarious: the elder Seneca speaks of a priestess whose chastity is precarious, and Seneca the philosopher of the wise man counting his body among precarious things.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Words may be ambiguous, and Fronto has a shaky writing hand.^(OLD 2012) In Medieval Latin it concerns the precarial grant.^(Niermeyer 1976) Church Latin glosses it uncertain, precarious.^(Stelten 1995) English ''precarious'' (1640s) was first a legal word, held through the favour of another.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the adverb ''precāriō''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of help granted as a favour.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of precarious things.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 1640s – English ''precarious''.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Obtained by [[m|en|entreaty]], given as a favour, held on sufferance; borrowed.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(law)'' Concerning tenancy at will.^(OLD 2012)

+ # [[m|en|uncertain|alt=Uncertain]], [[m|en|precarious]], transient; ambiguous; of the hand, shaky.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Of persons, suppliant.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' By way of a precarial grant.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[precāria]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[prex]]

+ * [[precor]]

+ * [[en|precarious]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}