præcisus

Præcisus is a Latin term appearing as a past participle form, typically understood to mean “cut off beforehand” or “abridged,” with the broader sense of something concise or shortened. In late Latin usage the form is encountered as a descriptor for passages or statements presented in a condensed or summary form, rather than in a literal sense of physical cutting.

Etymology and form: the word is built from prae- meaning “before” and cisus, a participial form related to caedere “to cut.” The ligature æ reflects classical spelling, yielding prae-cisus or præcisus. In medieval and later Latin, the form and its derivatives gave rise to Romance-language words associated with brevity and distillation of content.

Influence on Romance and English: the sense of “cutting down” or “shortening” extended into Old French as précis, a noun meaning a concise summary. From French, English borrowed précis with its modern sense of a brief summary, and the related adjective precise derives ultimately from the same Latin root, through French. Thus, the Latin præcisus sits at the etymological origin of both the English noun précis (or precis) and the English adjective precise, which retain a thread of the idea of concision or exactness.

Modern usage: in English, précis refers to a short, accurate summary of a text, while precise means exact or accurate. The historical link between these words and prae-cisus is primarily etymological, reflecting a common origin in the notion of being cut or shortened in advance.

See also: précis, precise.