potior

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpo.ti.or/, [ˈpɔt̪iɔr]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpot.t͡si.or/, [ˈpɔt̪ː͡s̪ior]

From Proto-Italic *potjōr. Cognate to Albanian pata.[1][2]

potior (present infinitive potīrī or potīrier, perfect active potītus sum); fourth conjugation, deponent

1. to become master of, to take possession of
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 6.6:

     Caesar partitis copiis cum Gaio Fabio legato et Mārcō Crassō quaestōre celeriterque effectīs pontibus adit tripertītō, aedificia vīcōsque incendit, magnō pecoris atque hominum numerō potītur.

     Caesar, having divided his forces with C. Fabius, his lieutenant, and M. Crassus his questor, and having hastily constructed some bridges, enters their country in three divisions, burns their houses and villages, and gains possession of a large number of cattle and men.

2. to be master of, to have, hold, possess

• Part of a small group of verbs, all with a short-vowel root, displaying both 3rd and 4th conjugation forms.
• The verb potior and others like it, fruor, fungor, ūtor, vescor, and their compounds, regularly govern the ablative case.

  Mīles gladiō ūtitur.

  The soldier uses a sword.

• Potior sometimes governs the genitive.

  potīrī rērum ― to get control of affairs

• Pre- and post-Classically potior can also govern the accusative.

  160 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Adelphoe 871:

  ille alter sine labōre patria potītur commoda.

  He, on the other hand, without any trouble on his part, enjoys a father's comforts.

¹The present passive infinitive in -ier is a rare poetic form which is attested.

From Proto-Italic *potjōs, comparative of potis (“able, capable”).

potior (neuter potius); third declension

1. (of persons) preferred, preferable, better
2. (of things) better, stronger, more important, more preferable, more desirable
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.287:

     Haec alternantī potior sententia vīsa est: [...].

     [As Aeneas was] wavering [among] these [possible choices], [this] seemed to be the more preferable answer: [...].
     (Aeneas considers how to end his relationship with Dido and leave Carthage.)

Third-declension comparative adjective.

• potissimus

• Italian: poziore
• Sicilian: puzziuri

• “potior”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “potior”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• potior in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• potior in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (1) to usurp supreme power, (2) to be in a position of power: rerum potiri
    
  • to conquer a country: terra potiri
    
  • (ambiguous) there is nothing I am more interested in than..: nihil antiquius or prius habeo quam ut (nihil mihi antiquius or potius est, quam ut)
    
• potior in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016