praesul

Latin

FWOTD – 1 April 2014

Etymology

From the prefix prae- and the root found in salio (“I jump”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈprae̯.sul/, [ˈpräe̯s̠ʊɫ̪]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpre.sul/, [ˈprɛːs̬ul]

Noun

praesul m (genitive praesulis); third declension

1. a public dancer who dances in leaps
2. the leader of the Salii (ancient Roman priests of Mars)
   • 4th century, Historia Augusta:

     Octavo aetatis anno in Saliorum collegium rettulit. [...] Fuit in eo sacerdotio et praesul et vates et magister, et multos inauguravit et exauguravit nemine praeeunte, quod ipse carmina cuncta didicisset.

     When he [Marcus Aurelius] was eight years old, he [Hadrian] enrolled him in the college of the Salii. [...] In that priesthood, he was leader and seer and master, admitting and expelling many men, without anybody dictating the songs to him as he had learned them all.

3. (post-Classical) director, president
4. (post-Classical) patron, protector
   • 4th century, “Te lucis ante terminum”, St. Ambrose? (lyrics):

     Te lucis ante terminum / rerum creator poscimus / ut solita clementia / sis praesul ad custodiam.

     Before the end of the light, we beseech Thee, creator of things, that by thy accustomed mercy thou wouldst be [our] protector unto safekeeping.

5. (Medieval Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin) bishop
   • 11th–13th centuries, “Carmina Burana”, anonymous lyricist:

     Bibit puer, bibit canus / bibit praesul et decanus

     Children drink, the grey-haired drink / Bishops drink and [so do] deacons

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	praesul	praesulēs
Genitive	praesulis	praesulum
Dative	praesulī	praesulibus
Accusative	praesulem	praesulēs
Ablative	praesule	praesulibus
Vocative	praesul	praesulēs

Derived terms

• archipraesul

References

• “praesul”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “praesul”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• praesul in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• praesul in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “praesul”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “praesul”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin