prehensus

Latin

Alternative forms

• prēnsus

Etymology

Perfect passive participle of prehendō.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /preˈhen.sus/, [preˈ(ɦ)ẽːs̠ʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /preˈen.sus/, [preˈɛnsus]

Participle

prehēnsus (feminine prehēnsa, neuter prehēnsum); first/second-declension participle

1. seized, grasped, grabbed, taken, caught; having been seized, etc.
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.592–593:

     “[...] dextrāque prehēnsum / continuit [...].”

     “she caught [me] by the hand and held [me] back”
     (Venus intervenes just as Aeneas reaches for his sword.)

2. detained, accosted, caught hold of
3. taken by surprise

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

Number	Singular				Plural
Case / Gender	Masculine	Feminine	Neuter		Masculine	Feminine	Neuter
Nominative	prehēnsus	prehēnsa	prehēnsum		prehēnsī	prehēnsae	prehēnsa
Genitive	prehēnsī	prehēnsae	prehēnsī		prehēnsōrum	prehēnsārum	prehēnsōrum
Dative	prehēnsō		prehēnsō		prehēnsīs
Accusative	prehēnsum	prehēnsam	prehēnsum		prehēnsōs	prehēnsās	prehēnsa
Ablative	prehēnsō	prehēnsā	prehēnsō		prehēnsīs
Vocative	prehēnse	prehēnsa	prehēnsum		prehēnsī	prehēnsae	prehēnsa

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Romanian: prins
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: preso
  • Sicilian: prisa
• Padanian:
  • Piedmontese: prèis, prais (“rennet”)
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Bourguignon: prins
  • French: pris
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Aragonese: preso
  • Catalan: pres
  • Occitan: pres
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: preso
    • Galician: preso
    • Portuguese: preso
  • Spanish: preso
    • → Cebuano: priso
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *prensura (“rennet”)
  • Italo-Romance:
    • Tuscan: presura, presuria
  • Padanian:
    • ⇒ Emilian: presur, parzur
    • Piedmontese: përzura ⇒ preisur
  • Northern Gallo-Romance:
    • Old French: prisure
      • French: présure
  • Southern Gallo-Romance:
    • Occitan: presura

References

• “prehensus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• prehensus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.