posco
Latin
Etymology
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 (harcʿ), Old Church Slavonic просити (prositi), German forschen, and Old English friġnan (whence English frain).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈpos.koː/, [ˈpɔs̠koː]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈpos.ko/, [ˈpɔsko]
Verb
poscō (present infinitive poscere, perfect active poposcī); third conjugation, no supine stem
- I beg, I demand, I request, I desire.
- Poscor aliquid. ― Something is asked of me.
- Poscor meum Laelapa. ― They demand of me my Laelaps.
- I demand for punishment, I ask the surrender of.
- I call someone.
- 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]
- 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]
- 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.
- I ask in marriage, I demand one's hand.
- Filiam tuam mihi uxorem posco. ― I demand your daughter's hand in marriage.
Usage notes
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
| 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
- (beg, demand): flāgitō, postulō, petō
Derived terms
- appōscō
- postulō
References
- “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, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to get a question submitted to one: quaestionem poscere (Fin. 2. 1. 1)
- to get a question submitted to one: quaestionem poscere (Fin. 2. 1. 1)
- Latin
- English