praetor

See also: prætor

English

Alternative forms

Variant forms

• praetor [19th century–present]
• prætor [16th–19th centuries, now archaic]
• pretoir (Scottish) [16th century]
• pretor [15th–17th centuries, 20th century–present]
• pretore (Middle English)
• pretour [15th–17th centuries]

Etymology

From Middle English pretour, pretor, from the Anglo-Norman pretour, pretore, the Middle French preteur (from the Old French pretor; compare the Modern French préteur), and their etymon, the Classical Latin praetor (“leader”, “commander”, “magistrate”); the Latin praetor being contracted from *praeitor (“one who goes before”), from praeeō (“I go before”), from prae (“before”) + eō (“I go”); compare the Italian pretore, the Portuguese pretor, and the Spanish pretor.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: prēʹtôr, IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːtɔː/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːtɚ/, /ˈpɹeɪːtɚ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

praetor (plural praetors or praetores)

1. (history) The title designating a Roman administrative official whose role changed over time:
   1. (originally) A consul in command of the army.
   2. (after 366 BC) An annually-elected curule magistrate, subordinate to the consuls in provincial administration, and who performed some of their duties; numbering initially only one, later two (either of the praetor urbānus (“urban praetor”) or the praetor peregrīnus (“peregrine praetor”)), and eventually eighteen.
2. (by extension) A high civic or administrative official, especially a chief magistrate or mayor. Sometimes used as a title.
3. (historical, translating Italian "pretore") The title of the chief magistrate, the mayor, and/or the podestà in Palermo, in Verona, and in various other parts of 17th- and 18th-century Italy.

Synonyms

• (Roman office): provost (obs.)

Derived terms

Derived terms

• lieutenant-praetor
• peregrine praetor
• praetoral
• praetorical
• praetorship
• urban praetor

Related terms

Related terms

• praetorial
• praetorian
  • → Praetorian Guard
• propraetor
• praetorium
• praetory
• praeturate

Translations

Roman administrative official

• Faliscan: 𐌐𐌓𐌄𐌕𐌏𐌃 (pretod)
• Finnish: preetori (fi)
• French: préteur (fr) m
• German: Prätor (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: στρατηγός m (stratēgós)

• Italian: pretore (it) m
• Polish: pretor (pl) m
• Portuguese: pretor (pt) m
• Russian: претор (ru) m (pretor)
• Swedish: pretor (sv) c, praetor (sv) c

high civic or administrative official

historical Italian title

Further reading

• praetor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• prorate

Latin

Etymology

For *praeitor, from Proto-Italic *praiitōr. Equal to praeeō +‎ -tor.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈprae̯.tor/, [ˈpräe̯t̪ɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpre.tor/, [ˈprɛːt̪or]

Noun

praetor m (genitive praetōris); third declension

1. leader, head, chief, president
2. praetor (office)

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	praetor	praetōrēs
Genitive	praetōris	praetōrum
Dative	praetōrī	praetōribus
Accusative	praetōrem	praetōrēs
Ablative	praetōre	praetōribus
Vocative	praetor	praetōrēs

Derived terms

• praetōriānus
• praetōrium

Descendants

• Catalan: pretor
• Galician: pretor
• → Byzantine Greek: πραίτωρ (praítōr)
• → Old Francoprovençal: pretor
  • Franco-Provençal: prétor
• → Old French: pretor
  • French: préteur
• Italian: pretore
• Portuguese: pretor
• Spanish: pretor

References

• “praetor”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “praetor”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• praetor 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)
• praetor in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to appeal to the plebeian tribunes against a praetor's decision: appellare tribunos plebis (in aliqua re a praetore) (Liv. 2. 55)
    
  • to accuse, denounce a person: nomen alicuius deferre (apud praetorem) (Verr. 2. 38. 94)
    
• “praetor”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• praetor in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “praetor”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin