protelum Latin · revision 36629

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la tendō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [proːˈteː.ɫũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [proˈtɛː.lum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''prōtēlum''' ''n'' (genitive prōtēlī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prō-|tendō|t2=to stretch]], with an instrument suffix: the OLD and the TLL start from an earlier ⟨*prō-ten-slo-⟩, the ⟨-slo-⟩ suffix being the one they also see in [[m|la|pālus#1|t=stake]] and [[m|la|scāla|t=ladder]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan reconstructs ⟨*prō-tend-slo-⟩, an “instrument for pulling forth”, but allows a form with the root variant [[ine-pro|*tens-]] as well.^(de Vaan 2008) The TLL thinks it first named a farm implement.^(TLL)

+

+ It lives on in [[it|trapelo]], an extra horse harnessed to a team, and in dialect words of the Alps, northern Italy and France for the pole of a cart or a sledge.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan records it from Cato on,^(de Vaan 2008) in a fragment quoted by Nonius: ''prōtēlō trīnī bovēs ūnum arātrum dūcent'', “three oxen in tandem will draw one plough”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It named the towrope by which oxen were yoked one behind another to a plough instead of side by side,^(Georges 1913) and so a team of animals harnessed in a row: Pliny the Elder writes of teams of two or three for ploughing.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Lucilius uses it in the phrase ''prōtēlō dūcere''.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ Lucretius used it figuratively for an unbroken succession, of particles kept in motion by a continued series of blows, and has ''quasi prōtēlō'' “as if in one continuous line”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) A Greek gloss renders it as [[m|grc|ἔξαμπρον|tr=éxampron]], the towrope.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of three oxen drawing a plough in tandem.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it in ''prōtēlō dūcere''.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of an unbroken succession of blows.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of teams of oxen.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|towrope]] by which draught animals were harnessed one behind another;^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''prōtēlō'', in [[m|en|tandem]].^(Georges 1913)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A tandem arrangement of draught animals; a [[m|en|team]] harnessed in a row.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' An unbroken [[m|en|succession]], continuous line.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[prōtēlō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tēmō]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}