praetor

See also prætor

English

Alternative forms

Variant forms

praetor [19th century–present] prætor [16th century, now archaic] pretoir (Scottish) [16th century]

pretor [15th–17th centuries, 20th century–present] pretore (Middle English) pretour [15th–17th centuries]

Etymology

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

• (RP) enPR: prēʹtôr, IPA: /ˈpɹiːtɔː/, X-SAMPA: /"pr\i:tO:/

Noun

praetor (plural praetors or praetores)

1. (Roman 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. (in Italian seventeenth- and eighteenth-century history, translating the Italian "pretore") The title of the chief magistrate, the mayor, and/or the podestà in Palermo, in Verona, and in various other parts of Italy.

Related terms

Related terms

praetorial praetorian → Praetorian Guard

propraetor praetorium praetory praeturate

Derived terms

Derived terms

lieutenant-praetor peregrine praetor praetoral

praetorical praetorship urban praetor

Translations

Roman administrative official

• Finnish: preetori (fi)
• French: préteur (fr) m
• German: Prätor (de) m

• Polish: pretor (pl) m
• Russian: претор (ru) (pretor) m

high civic or administrative official

historical Italian title

External links

• Praetor on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• prorate

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Latin

Noun

praetōr (genitive praetōris); m, third declension

1. leader, head, chief, president

Inflection

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	praetōr	praetōrēs
genitive	praetōris	praetōrum
dative	praetōrī	praetōribus
accusative	praetōrem	praetōrēs
ablative	praetōre	praetōribus
vocative	praetōr	praetōrēs

References

• praetor in Charlton T. Lewis & Charles Short, A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1879