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DictionaryRoot: premere
Latin

premere

press

Forms

  • premere
  • press- — The changed form used for completed action and its derivatives.
  • -prim- — The vowel changed in some Latin compounds.

Origin

An inherited Latin verb with older Indo-European ancestry; the exact earliest reconstruction is uncertain.

Note

Physical pressure supplied a natural model for restraint, expression, and compression.

24 / 36
A close, elevated view of an official pressing an approval seal onto an applicant's architectural plan, making formal authorization the dominant action rather than a document handover.
noun

imprimatur

im-prih-MAH-ter/ˌɪmprɪˈmɑːtər/

Official approval, especially permission to publish a religious text.

Etymology
imLatinin, into, on, upon
+primaturLatinpress

Pressing upon something supplied the image behind the Latin verb for printing. The formula “let it be printed” granted permission to publish a book, giving imprimatur its broader sense of formal approval.

Full entry

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