priscus

Etymology

Supposed to have been earlier *priuscus, from prior, q.v. Equivalent to prius +‎ -cus; ultimately composed of Proto-Indo-European *pre- + *-yōs + *-kos.^[1] Possibly cognate to English fresh.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpriːs.kus/, [ˈpriːs̠kʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpris.kus/, [ˈpriskus]

Adjective

prīscus (feminine prīsca, neuter prīscum); first/second-declension adjective

1. former

   Synonyms: prīstinus, senex, vetus

   Antonym: novus

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 1.197–198:

     plūrīs opēs nunc sunt quam prīscī temporis annīs,
     dum populus pauper, dum nova Rōma fuit, [...]

     Now wealth is more valued than it was in years of former times,
     when the nation was poor, when Rome was new, [...]

2. ancient

   Synonyms: antīquus, longinquus, vetustus

   Antonym: recēns

3. old-fashioned

See also

• prīstinus

References

• “priscus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “priscus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• priscus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to go back to the remote ages: repetere ab ultima (extrema, prisca) antiquitate (vetustate), ab heroicis temporibus
    
  • obsolete, ambiguous expressions: prisca, obsoleta (opp. usitata), ambigua verba
    
• “priscus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “priscus”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray