praegravo Latin · revision 36926

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=65–8 BC, Horace|origins=ine-pro *gʷreh₂-u-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''praegravō''' (present infinitive praegravāre, perfect active praegravāvī, supine praegravātum); first conjugation^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|prae-|gravō|t2=to weigh down]].^(OLD 2012)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) The TLL allows that it may instead have been made from the adjective [[m|la|praegravis|t=very heavy]], whose sense of the prefix it matches better.^(TLL) De Vaan lists [[m|la|gravō|t=to make heavy, oppress]] among the derivatives of [[m|la|gravis|t=heavy]], which he traces to [[itc-pro|*gʷrau-]] and [[ine-pro|*gʷreh₂-u-|t=heavy]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[sa|गुरु|tr=gurú-|t=heavy]] and [[grc|βαρύς|tr=barús|t=heavy]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lewis and Short think it perhaps not older than the Augustan age.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The OLD's first example is in Horace's ''Satires'': a body loaded with the excesses of the day before weighs the mind down with it, ''corpus onustum hesternīs vitiīs animum quoque praegravat ūnā''.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In its literal sense it is used of a physical load: Livy has shields weighed down by the spears stuck in them, and Columella a head or ears that droop.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively it meant to lie heavy on someone or something: Horace speaks of a man who weighs down the arts ranked below his own, and Livy of a crowd of people that burdens a kingdom.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Without an object it meant to outweigh or preponderate, as in Seneca and Suetonius, who says that the rest of a man's deeds and words outweigh the good.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The TLL finds it rarely in verse (twice in Horace, once each in the ''Priapea'', Grattius and Terentianus Maurus) and much more often in prose from Livy on.^(TLL)

+

+ In the 4th century Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of not burdening anyone with taxes,^(Georges 1913) and Church Latin kept the sense of oppressing or weighing down.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of a body that weighs down the mind.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of shields weighed down by spears.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it of drooping ears.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it in the sense “outweigh”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of deeds that outweigh others.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of a burden of taxes.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To [[m|en|weigh down]], load heavily.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(figurative)'' To lie heavy on, [[m|en|burden]], [[m|en|oppress]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(intransitive)'' To [[m|en|outweigh]], [[m|en|preponderate]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[praegravis]]

+ * [[gravō]]

+ * [[gravis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}