per

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin per (“through, across; during; by means of”).^[2][3][4][1] In Italian it also took over many uses of prō (“in front of; for”),^[1][5] and Devoto described it as a blend of the two Latin prepositions.^[6] The Romance forms are French par, Occitan per, Catalan per, Sardinian per and Romanian pe;^[3] Spanish por and para, with their Portuguese equivalents, grew out of the meeting of “per” and “pro” with ad.^[3][5]

Latin per continues Proto-Italic *peri (“through, across”), from Proto-Indo-European *péri (“across”).^[7] Cognates include Ancient Greek περί (perí, “around”), Sanskrit परि (pári) and Lithuanian per.^[7][1][3] Nocentini groups it with prae and prō: at first a local adverb meaning “forward”, it narrowed to “through” and “around”, and the abstract senses came from these.^[3] In Latin it also served as a prefix meaning “thoroughly”, and with adjectives “very”, as in perbonus.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first record is a charter from Capua of 960.^[2][3][4]

Semantic evolution

Old texts have the forms par, pi and pir, and Tuscan has pere.^[8] The basic sense was motion through a place, as at the gate of Hell in Dante's Inferno: Per me si va nella città dolente (“through me the way into the woeful city”).^[8] From this per came to mark the place moved within, the destination, duration, the means, the cause, the purpose (with an infinitive, “in order to”), price and exchange, distribution (uno per volta) and, in arithmetic, multiplication (tre per due).^[4][1]

Many words and phrases were formed with it: perché, perciò and pertanto in the 13th century, peraltro in the 16th,^[3] and però from Latin “per hoc”.^[9][10] Oaths gave interjections such as perdio (14th century), the euphemisms perdinci (17th century), perdiana (1758) and perdindirindina (1922), and perbacco (18th century).^[3] The combined forms pel and pei are now dated, and per il, per i are preferred.^[11][12] In scientific terms per- became an intensive prefix, in competition with iper-.^[8]

Timeline

• 960 – First record, in a charter from Capua.^[2][4]
• 13th century – Perché, perciò and pertanto are formed.^[3]
• 14th century – The interjection perdio.^[3]
• 16th century – Peraltro.^[3]
• 17th century – Perdinci and peranco.^[3]
• 18th century – Perbacco.^[3]
• 1758 – Perdiana, a euphemism for perdio.^[3]
• 1922 – Perdindirindina.^[3]

Meanings

Preposition

1. through, by way of: of motion through a place, also figurative: siamo passati per Verona.^[4][11][12]
2. Around, about, within a space: girare per il mercato.^[4][12]
3. for, to: of destination: il volo per Madrid.^[4][11]
4. For, towards: of the person or thing an act or feeling is aimed at or benefits: un regalo per la nonna.^[4][13]
5. For, during: of duration: ha nevicato per tre giorni.^[4][1]
6. By, for: of a time in the future: sarà pronto per lunedì.^[4][13]
7. Because of, out of: of cause: tremare per il freddo.^[4]
8. By, by means of: mandare per email.^[4][1]
9. For, in order to: of purpose, also with an infinitive: sono venuto per aiutarti.^[4][1]
10. For: of price or exchange: l'ha venduta per poco, scambiare una cosa per un'altra.^[4]
11. Of distribution and percentages: due per volta, il cinque per cento.^[4]
12. (mathematics) times: quattro per tre fa dodici; also the sign × itself.^[4]
13. (with stare) Of an action about to happen: sta per nevicare.^[4]

Word family

• dappertutto
• peraltro
• perbacco
• perché
• perciò
• perciocché
• imperciocché
• perdio
• perdiana
• perdinci
• perdindirindina
• pertanto

Related words

• pro
• però
• Latin per

Usage notes

Per forms many set phrases: per favore and per piacere “please”, per esempio, per caso “by chance”, per sempre “for ever”.^[1][4] Oaths with per (per la miseria!) express annoyance or surprise.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
5. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
6. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
8. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca
9. ^ Prati, Angelico (1951), Vocabolario etimologico italiano, Milano: Garzanti
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ a b c Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
13. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli