posco

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Latin

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Etymology

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From Proto-Italic *porskō, from Proto-Indo-European *pr̥(ḱ)sḱéti, from *preḱ- (to ask, ask for) + *-sḱéti (imperfective suffix). Latin -ēscō (inchoative suffix) derives separately 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

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Verb

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

  1. to beg, to demand, to request, to desire
    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.[1]
      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.[2]
  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

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Though it is listed without passive forms, they do sometimes appear, as in Seneca's Thyestes, 242-43: "Tantalum et Pelopem aspice; / ad haec manus exempla poscuntur meae."

Conjugation

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   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 poposcistī poposcit poposcimus poposcistis poposcērunt,
poposcēre
pluperfect poposceram poposcerās poposcerat poposcerāmus poposcerātis poposcerant
future perfect poposcerō poposceris poposcerit poposcerimus poposceritis poposcerint
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 poposcerīs poposcerit poposcerīmus poposcerītis poposcerint
pluperfect poposcissem poposcissēs poposcisset poposcissēmus poposcissētis poposcissent
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 active passive
present perfect future present perfect future
infinitives poscere poposcisse poscī
participles poscēns poscendus,
poscundus
verbal nouns gerund supine
genitive dative accusative ablative accusative ablative
poscendī poscendō poscendum poscendō

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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References

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  • 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)