precept

English

Alternative forms

• præcept (obsolete)

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

Borrowed from Late Latin praeceptum, form of praecipiō (“to teach”), from Latin prae (“pre-”) + capiō (“take”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɹiːsɛpt/

Noun

precept (plural precepts)

1. A rule or principle, especially one governing personal conduct.
   • 2006: Theodore Dalrymple, The Gift of Language
     • I need hardly point out that Pinker doesn't really believe anything of what he writes, at least if example is stronger evidence of belief than precept.
   • 1891, Susan Hale, Mexico (The Story of the Nations), volume 27, London: T. Fisher Unwin, page 80:

     He found a people in the extreme of barbarism living in caves, feeding upon the bloody flesh of animals they killed in hunting; he taught them many things, so that by his example, and for generations after he left them by his precepts, they advanced to high civilization.

2. (law) A written command, especially a demand for payment.

Translations

rule or principle governing personal conduct

• Czech: zásada (cs) f
• Dutch: regel (nl) m, gedragsregel (nl) m, principe (nl)
• Finnish: sääntö (fi), ohje (fi), ohjenuora
• French: précepte (fr) m
• Georgian: პრინციპი (ṗrinciṗi), წესი (c̣esi), მცნება (mcneba)
• German: Gebot (de), Vorschrift (de), Grundsatz (de) m
• Greek: κανόνας (el) m (kanónas), εντολή (el) f (entolí)
• Hebrew: tsav, tsawv
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Latin: praeceptum n
• Plautdietsch: Väaschreft f
• Portuguese: preceito (pt)
• Russian: при́нцип (ru) m (príncip), за́поведь (ru) f (zápovedʹ), заве́т (ru) m (zavét)
• Swedish: föreskrift (sv), regel (sv) c, rättesnöre (sv) n
• Tagalog: sawikain
• Thai: ศีล (th) (sǐin)
• Turkish: ta'lim, ögreti, ta'lim buyurmak

Verb

precept (third-person singular simple present precepts, present participle precepting, simple past and past participle precepted)

1. (obsolete) To teach by precepts.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Francis Bacon to this entry?)

Anagrams

• percept

---

Old Irish

Etymology

(deprecated template usage)

Borrowed from Late Latin praeceptum, form of praecipiō (“to teach”), from prae (“pre-”) + capiō (“take”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpʲrʲeɡʲept/

Noun

precept f (genitive precepte)

1. verbal noun of pridchaid
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 10^d23

     Mad ar lóg pridcha-sa, .i. ar m’étiuth et mo thoschith, ním·bia fochricc dar hési mo precepte.

     If I preach for pay, that is, for my clothing and my sustenance, I shall not have a reward for my teaching.

   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 21^c19

     Is oc precept soscéli at·tó.

     I am preaching the gospel.

Inflection

Feminine ā-stem
	Singular	Dual	Plural
Nominative	preceptL	preceptL, preceupt	preceptaH
Vocative	preceptL	preceptL, preceupt	preceptaH
Accusative	preceptN, preceupt	preceptL, preceupt	preceptaH
Genitive	precepteH, preceptae	preceptL	preceptN
Dative	preceptL, preceupt	preceptaib	preceptaib
Initial mutations of a following adjective: H = triggers aspiration L = triggers lenition N = triggers nasalization

Mutation

Old Irish mutation
Radical	Lenition	Nasalization
precept	phrecept or unchanged	precept pronounced with /b(ʲ)-/
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “precept”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language