procer
Meaning
- in pluralmasculinenoble(s), prince(s), chief(s)
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
ducēs, prīmī virōrumChoosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Primores · Principes · Proceres · Optimates
Primores and principes denote the most eminent persons in a state, as a class of the most influential and respectable citizens, in opp. to insignificant persons; primores, so far as they are so by their connections, birth, power, and credit; principes, so far as they have raised themselves by their intellect, commanding talent, and activity to take the lead in debates, to be at the head of parties, to be the first men even among the primores, and in the whole state; whereas proceres, as far as they are so from their natural position, as the nobility, in opp. to the commonalty; optimates, as a political class, as the aristocracy, in opp. to the democracy. Accius apud Non. Primores procerum provocaret nomine. (v. 346.)
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | procer | procerēs procī |
| genitive | proceris procī | procerum procōrum |
| dative | procerī procō | proceribus procīs |
| accusative | procerem procum | procerēs procōs |
| ablative | procere procō | proceribus procīs |
| vocative | procer proce | procerēs procī |
procum patricium in descriptione classium quam facit, Serv. Tullius, significat procerum, Fest. p. 249 Müll.; cf.: jam (ut censoriae tabulae loquuntur) fabrum et procum audeo dicere, non fabrorum et procorum, Cic. Or. 46, 156), m. pro and root kar- of creo; cf. procērus. audiebam nostros proceres clamitantes, Cic. Fam. 13, 15, 1: Latinorum, Liv. 1, 45, 2: Etruscorum, id. 2, 10: ego proceribus civitatis annumeror, Tac. A. 14, 53: Caecina Largus e proceribus, Plin. 17, 1, 1, § 5: delectos populi ad proceres, Verg. A. 3, 58: castrorum, Luc. 7, 69: in procerum coetu, id. 8, 261; Juv. 2, 121; 3, 213: proceres rerum, Sil. 11, 142.—Transf., of bees: procerum seditio, Col. 9, 9, 6.—In sing.: agnosco procerem, Juv. 8, 26: in pueritiā fuit pastor nonnumquam et procer, a leader, captain, Capitol. Max. 2.—proceres artis ejus (medicinae), Plin. 29, 1, 8, § 26: sapientiae, id. 7, 30, 31, § 112: gulae, id. 9, 17, 30, § 66: indicatis in genere utroque (pingendi) proceribus, id. 35, 11, 40, § 138.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
From procus (“standing in front of”), from Proto-Indo-European *per- (“in front of”), similar to prope (“nearby, close”).