per

Forms

per^[1]

Etymology

It is late inherited from Middle High German per, borrowed from Latin per (“through, by means of”).^[2][1][3] It came in through the language of merchants in the 15th century, under the influence of the same preposition in per.^[2][4][5]

Paul notes that the Italian word covers both Latin per and prō (“for”), which explains uses such as “twice per year”.^[4] The Latin preposition is related to the German prefix ver-.^[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pfeifer's first record is from the first half of the 15th century, with the name of a debtor: solvit per Herman von der Porten 12 mark (“paid through Herman von der Porten, 12 marks”).^[2] The Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch also dates the oldest phrases of the merchants' language to the early 15th century.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In trade it served with amounts and prices (den centner per 12 fl. “the hundredweight at 12 florins”, 16th century, per Rechnung, 17th century), with quantities (per sacko, 15th century) and with periods of time (per Monat, 18th century).^[2] Phrases were taken whole from Italian, such as per Cassa “in cash” in the 16th century and per procura “by proxy” in the 18th; from the 16th century, under Italian influence, it marked the credit items in bookkeeping.^[2][5]

It then came to name the means of transport, a use spread by students' slang, sometimes in Latin phrases: per Kutsche and per terra “by land” in the 16th century, per pedes “on foot” in the 17th, per Wagen in the 18th and per Telefon in the 19th.^[2][4] Colloquial and jocular speech took the pattern further, and it reached the dialects.^[5] Grimmelshausen wrote per Spass in 1672, Heine used an inflected noun after it in per fahrender Post (1825), and Thomas Mann per sofort.^[4] In the old students' language it even served as a prefix, as in sich permachen “to run off” (1846).^[4]

Timeline

• First half of the 15th century – First record, in the language of merchants.^[2][5]
• 16th century – per marks credit items in bookkeeping, and per Kutsche names a means of transport.^[5][2]
• 1579 – per gutschi “by coach” in a travel book by Ernstinger.^[5]
• 1672 – Grimmelshausen writes per Spass.^[4]
• 1825 – Heine writes per fahrender Post in a letter.^[4]
• 1846 – Student slang sich permachen “to run off”.^[4]

Meanings

Preposition

1. With the accusative: by, by way of, naming how something is sent or carried: Wir schicken die Unterlagen per Kurier.^[6][1][7]
2. By means of, through: Sie haben den Vertrag per Handschlag besiegelt.^[6][1] Fixed phrases: per Adresse “care of”, mit jemandem per du sein “to be on first-name terms with someone”.^[6]
3. (commerce) As of, by (a date): Die Ware ist per ersten März lieferbar. Per sofort means “with immediate effect”.^[6][1]
4. (commerce) per, for each: drei Euro per Stück.^[6][1][7]

Related words

• pro

Usage notes

A separate neuter noun Per is jargon for perchloroethylene, the solvent used in dry cleaning.^[6][7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Pfeifer, Wolfgang, et al. (1993), Etymologisches Wörterbuch des Deutschen, 2nd ed., Berlin: Akademie-Verlag; digital revised version in the DWDS, dwds.de
3. ^ a b Duden. Das Herkunftswörterbuch: Etymologie der deutschen Sprache (2014), 5th ed., Duden vol. 7, Berlin / Mannheim / Zürich: Dudenverlag, p. 626
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Paul, Hermann (2002), Deutsches Wörterbuch: Bedeutungsgeschichte und Aufbau unseres Wortschatzes, 10th ed., ed. Helmut Henne, Heidrun Kämper and Georg Objartel, Tübingen: Niemeyer
5. ^ a b c d e f g Schulz, Hans; Basler, Otto, et al. (1913–1988), Deutsches Fremdwörterbuch, 7 vols., Strasbourg / Berlin: Trübner / De Gruyter; 2nd ed., ed. Gerhard Strauß et al. (1995–), Berlin / New York: De Gruyter; via OWID, Leibniz-Institut für Deutsche Sprache
6. ^ a b c d e f Duden. Das große Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache in zehn Bänden (1999), 3rd ed., Mannheim: Dudenverlag
7. ^ a b c Duden. Das Fremdwörterbuch (2007), 9th ed., Duden vol. 5, Mannheim: Dudenverlag