praelectio

praelectio

Latin

Etymology

From praelēctus +‎ -tiō, from praelegō (“read aloud”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /prae̯ˈleːk.ti.oː/, [präe̯ˈɫ̪eːkt̪ioː]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /preˈlek.t͡si.o/, [preˈlɛkt̪͡s̪io]

Noun

praelēctiō f (genitive praelēctiōnis); third declension

1. The act of reading aloud
   • c. 95 CE, Quintilian, Institutio Oratoria :

     et hercule praelectio quae in hoc adhibetur ut facile atque distincte pueri scripta oculis sequantur

     and indeed reading aloud, which is to be employed, so that the boys can easily and clearly follow the writing with their eyes[1]

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	praelēctiō	praelēctiōnēs
Genitive	praelēctiōnis	praelēctiōnum
Dative	praelēctiōnī	praelēctiōnibus
Accusative	praelēctiōnem	praelēctiōnēs
Ablative	praelēctiōne	praelēctiōnibus
Vocative	praelēctiō	praelēctiōnēs

Descendants

• → English: prelection

References

1. “Why did Roman authors never feel a need for word spacing?”, in Latin Language‎, February 19, 2017