Vocabulary

by Claire
(San Antonio, TX, USA)

Dear Latin Teacher,

Which Latin vocabulary word means to ask or to entreat? procari, precari, pracari?

Thanks, Claire


Dear Claire,

Two of the words you ask about make sense to me. I have never seen the word pracari.

Procor, procari, procatus sum: to urge; to woo; to ask or to demand. This verb is very rare. This deponent verb also has an active counterpart (proco, procare).

Precor, precari, precatus sum: to ask, beg, entreat; to pray, supplicate, request, invoke. In Christian Latin we often see the form precamur, let us pray. This verb is very common.

A nice English derivative from precari: imprecation means a curse, malediction, a praying against another. It's really from the verb imprecari, to pray to or for.

Hope this helps, and thanks for asking a Latin teacher!

Sincerely,

John

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