# praetor
## English
### Alternative forms

* prætor [16th–19th centuries, now archaic]
* praetor [19th century–present]
* pretoir (Scottish) [16th century]
* pretor [15th–17th centuries, 20th century–present]
* pretore (Middle English, 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: /ˈpɹiːtɔː/
* (General American) IPA: /ˈpɹiːtɚ/, /ˈpɹeɪːtɚ/
* Audio (US):(file)

### Noun

praetor (plural praetors or praetores)
* (history) The title designating a Roman administrative official whose role changed over time:
** (originally) A consul in command of the army.
** (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.
* (by extension) A high civic or administrative official, especially a chief magistrate or mayor. Sometimes used as a title.
* (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

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

#### Related terms

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

#### Further reading

* praetor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* prorate

## Latin
### Etymology

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

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈprae̯.tor/, [ˈpräe̯t̪ɔr]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈpre.tor/, [ˈprɛːt̪or]

### Noun

praetor m (genitive praetōris); third declension
* leader, head, chief, president
* praetor (office)

#### Declension

Third-declension noun.

#### 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, 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, 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