posco

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *porskō (“to ask for; request; demand”), from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥(ḱ)sḱéti (“to keep asking; to question”), from *preḱ- (“to ask; to ask for”) +‎ *-sḱéti (“imperfective suffix”). Latin -ēscō (inchoative suffix) derives from this ending.

Cognates include Latin prex (“prayer”), procus (“suitor”), Sanskrit पृच्छति (pṛccháti), Old Armenian հարց (harcʻ), Old Church Slavonic просити (prositi), German forschen, and Old English friġnan (whence English frain).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈpɔs.koː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈpɔs.ko]

Verb

poscō (present infinitive poscere, perfect active poposcī or peposcī); third conjugation, no supine stem

1. to beg, to demand, to request, to desire [with accusative ‘something’, along with ab (+ ablative) ‘of someone’ or double accusative ‘someone something’, along with ut (+ subjunctive) or infinitive]

   Synonyms: flāgitō, postulō, petō

   Poscor aliquid. ― Something is asked of me.

   Poscor meum Laelapa. ― They demand of me my Laelaps.

2. to demand for punishment, to ask the surrender of
3. to call someone

   Ego poscor Olympo! ― It is I that Olympus summons!

   Ad te confugio et supplex tua numina posco. ― To you I have recourse and, as a suppliant, I call on your divine power.

   • c. 190 BCE, Plautus, Curculio 5.3.5:

     Argentariis male credi qui aiunt, nugas praedicant: nam et bene et male credi dico; id adeo ego hodie expertus sum. Non male creditur qui numquam reddunt, sed prorsum perit. Vel ille, decem minas dum solvit, omnis mensas transiit. Postquam nil fit, clamore hominem posco: ille in ius me vocat; pessume metui, ne mihi hodie apud praetorem solveret. Verum amici compulerunt: reddit argentum domo. Nunc domum properare certumst.

     • Translation by Robert W. Cape, Jr.

       People that say bankers are ill trusted talk rubbish. Why, they are well and ill trusted both, I tell you–and what is more, I have proved it myself this very day. Money is not ill trusted to men that never repay you; it is gone for good. That Lyco, for example, in trying to raise forty pounds for me, went to every single bank. Nothing coming of it, I begin dunning him at the top of my lungs. He summons me before the magistrate I was horribly afraid he would settle with me in court. But his friends coerced him, and he paid me out of his own cash in hand. Now I must hurry home.

4. to ask in marriage, to demand one's hand

   Filiam tuam mihi uxorem posco. ― I demand your daughter's hand in marriage.

Usage notes

• The passive forms are uncommon, but do sometimes appear, as in Seneca's Thyestes, 242-43: Tantalum et Pelopem aspice; / ad haec manus exempla poscuntur meae.

Conjugation

• The standard perfect is poposcī; however, peposcī was also in use during the late Republican period.

   Conjugation of poscō (third conjugation, no supine stem)

indicative		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	poscō		poscis		poscit		poscimus		poscitis		poscunt
	imperfect	poscēbam		poscēbās		poscēbat		poscēbāmus		poscēbātis		poscēbant
	future	poscam		poscēs		poscet		poscēmus		poscētis		poscent
	perfect	poposcī, peposcī		poposcistī, peposcistī		poposcit, peposcit		poposcimus, peposcimus		poposcistis, peposcistis		poposcērunt, poposcēre, peposcērunt, peposcēre
	pluperfect	poposceram, peposceram		poposcerās, peposcerās		poposcerat, peposcerat		poposcerāmus, peposcerāmus		poposcerātis, peposcerātis		poposcerant, peposcerant
	future perfect	poposcerō, peposcerō		poposceris, peposceris		poposcerit, peposcerit		poposcerimus, peposcerimus		poposceritis, peposceritis		poposcerint, peposcerint
passive	present	poscor		posceris, poscere		poscitur		poscimur		posciminī		poscuntur
	imperfect	poscēbar		poscēbāris, poscēbāre		poscēbātur		poscēbāmur		poscēbāminī		poscēbantur
	future	poscar		poscēris, poscēre		poscētur		poscēmur		poscēminī		poscentur
subjunctive		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	poscam		poscās		poscat		poscāmus		poscātis		poscant
	imperfect	poscerem		poscerēs		posceret		poscerēmus		poscerētis		poscerent
	perfect	poposcerim, peposcerim		poposcerīs, peposcerīs		poposcerit, peposcerit		poposcerīmus, peposcerīmus		poposcerītis, peposcerītis		poposcerint, peposcerint
	pluperfect	poposcissem, peposcissem		poposcissēs, peposcissēs		poposcisset, peposcisset		poposcissēmus, peposcissēmus		poposcissētis, peposcissētis		poposcissent, peposcissent
passive	present	poscar		poscāris, poscāre		poscātur		poscāmur		poscāminī		poscantur
	imperfect	poscerer		poscerēris, poscerēre		poscerētur		poscerēmur		poscerēminī		poscerentur
imperative		singular						plural
		first		second		third		first		second		third
active	present	—		posce		—		—		poscite		—
	future	—		poscitō		poscitō		—		poscitōte		poscuntō
passive	present	—		poscere		—		—		posciminī		—
	future	—		poscitor		poscitor		—		—		poscuntor
non-finite forms		infinitive						participle
		active			passive			active			passive
present		poscere			poscī			poscēns			—
future		—			—			—			poscendus, poscundus
perfect		poposcisse, peposcisse			—			—			—
verbal nouns		gerund								supine
		genitive		dative		accusative		ablative		accusative		ablative
		poscendī		poscendō		poscendum		poscendō		—		—

Derived terms

• apposcō
• dēposcō
• exposcō
• reposcō

Related terms

• postulō

Further reading

• “posco”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “posco”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “posco”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to get a question submitted to one: quaestionem poscere (Fin. 2. 1. 1)
    
• W. Sidney Allen (1978), Vox Latina, 2nd edition, page 68: “Before the verbal suffix -sc- the vowel is long in nearly all cases [...] probable exceptions are pŏsco, dĭsco, compĕsco, Old Latin ĕscit, similarly mĭsceo, in which the sc derives from originally more complex consonant-groups.”