praesagus Latin · revision 36508

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=70–19 BC, Virgil|origins=la sāgus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [prae̯ˈsaː.ɡʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [preˈs̬aː.ɡus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''praesāgus''' (feminine praesāga, neuter praesāgum); first/second-declension adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prae-|sāgus|t1=before|t2=prophetic, prescient]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan notes that the simple [[m|la|sāgus]] appears only from Statius on, while the verb [[m|la|praesāgiō|t=to foresee]] is found from Plautus; he reconstructs [[itc-pro|*sāg-ije/o-|t=to seek, perceive]], perhaps from [[ine-pro|*seh2ǵ-i-|t=tracking]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Virgil's ''Aeneid'',^(Köbler 2010) in the phrase “praesaga mali mens”, a mind foreboding evil, and of the fires of a lightning flash that foretell what is to come.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It belonged to poetry and post-Augustan prose:^(Lewis & Short 1879) it meant either feeling a presentiment, of the heart or mind, or portending and ominous, of signs, words, stars and oracles.^(OLD 2012) Ovid, Lucan, Statius and Silius use it in both senses, and Tacitus speaks of ominous responses.^(OLD 2012) The Vulgate speaks of a dream that foretold the future,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Chalcidius used ''praesāgus'' as a noun, a prophet.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ Medieval writers kept it for a mind with a foreboding, and British sources also used it for one who imparts foreknowledge and, as a noun, for a prognosticator.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil writes of a mind foreboding evil.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of foreboding hearts and ominous words.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus speaks of ominous oracular responses.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 300 AD – Chalcidius uses it as a noun for a prophet.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 639–709 AD – Aldhelm writes of the foreboding heart of a seer.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Feeling a [[m|en|presentiment]], having a [[m|en|foreboding]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # Foretelling, [[m|en|portentous]], [[m|en|ominous]], [[m|en|prophetic]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' A [[m|en|prophet]], one who foretells.^(Georges 1913)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[praesāgō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}