praesul

From the prefix prae- and the root found in salio 'to jump'.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈprae̯.sul/, [ˈprae̯.sʊɫ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈprɛ.sul/, [ˈprɛː.sul]

praesul m (genitive praesulis); third declension

1. public dancer who dances in leaps
2. the leader of the Salii (Ancient Roman priests of Mars)
   • 4th century, Historia Augusta

     Octavo aetatis anno in Saliorum collegium rettulit. [...] Fuit in eo sacerdotio et praesul et vates et magister, et multos inauguravit et exauguravit nemine praeeunte, quod ipse carmina cuncta didicisset. - When he [Marcus Aurelius] was eight years old, he [Hadrian] enrolled him in the college of the Salii. [...] In that priesthood, he was leader and seer and master, admitting and expelling many men, without anybody dictating the songs to him as he had learned them all.

3. (post-classical) director, president
4. (post-classical) patron, protector
   • 4th century, perhaps St. Ambrose

     Te lucis ante terminum / rerum creator poscimus / ut solita clementia / sis praesul ad custodiam - Before the end of the light, we beseech Thee, creator of things, that by thy accustomed mercy thou wouldst be [our] protector unto safekeeping

5. (Medieval Latin) bishop
   • 11th-13th centuries, anonymous, Carmina Burana

     Bibit puer, bibit canus / bibit praesul et decanus - Children drink, the grey-haired drink / Bishops drink and so do deacons

Third declension.

• praesul in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• praesul in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• praesul in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition, 1883–1887)
• praesul in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• praesul in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898) Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• praesul in William Smith et al., editor (1890) A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin