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 (harcʻ), Old Church Slavonic просити (prositi), German forschen, and Old English friġnan (whence English frain).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpos.koː/, [ˈpɔs̠koː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpos.ko/, [ˈpɔsko]

Verb

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.

     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.

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

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^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to get a question submitted to one: quaestionem poscere (Fin. 2. 1. 1)