# pretium
## Latin
### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *pretjom, from Proto-Indo-European *pr-é-ti, *pr-ó-ti, from *per- (“in front”) perhaps in the meaning of “equivalence, recompense, compensation”. Compare Proto-Slavic *protivъ (“contrary, against”), Ancient Greek πρός (prós) from older προτί (protí, “in the direction of, towards, near”), Sanskrit प्रति (prati, “towards, near; against”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈpre.ti.um/, [ˈprɛt̪iʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈpret.t͡si.um/, [ˈprɛt̪ː͡s̪ium]

### Noun

pretium n (genitive pretiī or pretī); second declension
* worth, price, value, cost
* pay, hire, wage
    Synonyms: praemium, stīpendium, commodum, mercēs
* reward
    Synonyms: praemium, datum, dōnum, oblātiō
* ransom
* bribe
    Synonym: praemium
* punishment
    Synonyms: pūnītiō, sānctiō, poena, supplicium, exemplum, vindicātiō, vindicta, animadversus, malum, mercēs

#### Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).
$^1$Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

#### Derived terms

* appretiō
* manupretium
* pretiō
* pretiōsus

#### Descendants

* Balkan Romance:
** Istro-Romanian: prets
** Romanian: preț
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: prezzo, pregio
*** → Romansch: prezi
*** → Sardinian: préciu, preju, prégiu, présiu, prétziu
** Sicilian: prezzu
*** → Maltese: prezz
* Insular Romance:
** Old Sardinian: prethu
* North Italian:
** Gallo-Italic:
*** Lombard: pressi
*** Piedmontese: pressi
*** Romagnol: prëz
** Friulian: presi
** Istriot: priesio, prièso
** Ladin: prisc
** Romansch: predsch, pretsch
* Gallo-Romance:
** Old Franco-Provençal: preiz
*** Franco-Provençal: pri
** Old French: pris (see there for further descendants)
* Occitano-Romance:
** Catalan: preu
*** → Aragonese: preu, pre
** Old Occitan: pretz
*** Occitan: prètz
*** → Spanish: prez
* Ibero-Romance:
** Old Galician-Portuguese: preço
*** Galician: prezo
*** Portuguese: preço
* Borrowings:
** → Spanish: precio (semi-learned) (see there for further descendants)

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “pretium”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 488

### Further reading

* “pretium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “pretium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* pretium 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)
* pretium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. it is worth while: operae pretium est (c. Inf.) to fix a price for a thing: pretium alicui rei statuere, constituere (Att. 13. 22) (ambiguous) to buy cheaply: parvo, vili pretio or bene emere (ambiguous) to restore prisoners without ransom: captivos sine pretio reddere
* Buchi, Éva, Schweickard, Wolfgang (2008–) “*/ˈprɛti-u/”, in Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman, Nancy: Analyse et Traitement Informatique de la Langue Française.