praeseco Latin · revision 36630

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 50 BC, Caesar|origins=ine-pro *sekh₁-ie/o-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈprae̯.sɛ.koː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈprɛː.s̬e.ko]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''praesecō''' (present infinitive praesecāre, perfect active praesecuī, supine praesectum or praesecātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+ Varro uses the form ''praesicō'', and Apuleius the participle ''praesecātus''.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prae-|secō|t2=to cut]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|secō]] to [[itc-pro|*sekaje/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*sekh₁-ie/o-|t=to cut off]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[xum|prusekatu|t=to cut out]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL records it from Caesar, Varro and Horace on, though the noun ''praesegmen'' is already in Plautus.^(TLL) Caesar tells of citizens who made torsion engines from the cut-off hair of all the women.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means to cut off the end or a projecting part: Varro has part of a honeycomb cut off with a knife, and Vitruvius the projecting ends of beams cut back.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Ovid says the hero should have cut off the wounded part with a sure hand,^(OLD 2012) and Statius has the Gorgon with her neck cut through.^(OLD 2012) Varro explains the name of a cabbage, ''praesica'', from the stalk being cut bit by bit.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It is also to cut or slit: Seneca has a man who cut his own throat.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ The figure ''praesectum ad unguem'' in Horace's ''Ars Poetica'', “trimmed to the nail”, is a disputed reading; many editors print ''perfectum''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of women's hair cut off.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of honeycombs and of cabbage.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of cutting off a wounded limb.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of a navel cord cut too short.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To cut away the end of, cut at the end; to cut off (a projecting part).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To cut or [[m|en|slit]] (at the surface or an extremity).^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[praesegmen]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}