perire

Forms

perire (first-person singular present perìsco, first-person singular past historic perìi, past participle perìto, auxiliary (intransitive) èssere or (in the archaic transitive usage) avére)^[1] Beside perisco, perisca, archaic and literary forms without -isc- are used: pèro, pèri, pèra.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Latin perīre (“to be lost, to perish”), formed from Latin per- + eō (“to go”), literally “to go through, go to ruin”.^[5][6][1][7] DELI treats it as a learned word, but Nocentini, Wiktionary and the REW count it as inherited, as its Romance relatives are: French périr, Occitan perir, Catalan perir and Catalan pereixer, Spanish perecer, Portuguese perecer and Romanian pieri.^{[8][5][1][9][10]} In Romansh the verb means “to wither”.^[9]

The Latin future participle peritūrus gave the learned perituro.^[8][5] Devoto groups the verb with perdere, peregrino and perfido, formed with the same prefix.^[11]

Earliest recorded meaning

DELI's first record is in Giacomino Pugliese, in the first half of the 13th century, with the sense “to die, especially not of natural causes”: sì perera, / se non fosse lo conforto / che mi donaste “I would die so, were it not for the comfort you gave me”.^[8][12]

Semantic evolution

In the love poetry of the 13th century the verb also meant to languish for love, as in Ugo di Massa's sì coralemente ch'io ne pero and later in Boccaccio.^[12][6] The sense “to be destroyed, go to ruin” is recorded around 1300 in the Laudi of Urbino.^[8] Dante has a ship that runs straight across the whole sea and perire al fine a l'intrar de la foce, perishes at last as it enters the harbour mouth (Paradiso XIII).^[13][7] An old transitive use, “to destroy, cause to perish”, is found in Fra Giordano in the 14th century.^[14][15]

The past participle perito “dead, destroyed” is recorded before 1306 in Jacopone da Todi, and perituro “bound to perish” before 1342 in Cavalca.^[8] The subjunctive pèra served in poetic curses: Pera chi osò primiero… (Foscolo).^[2][7] Today the verb is a more elevated word than morire, used chiefly of violent or accidental death.^[7][2]

Timeline

• First half of the 13th century – Giacomino Pugliese uses the verb for dying.^[8][12]
• About 1300 – The sense “to go to ruin” appears in the Laudi of Urbino.^[8]
• Before 1306 – Jacopone da Todi uses the participle perito.^[8]
• Before 1342 – Cavalca uses perituro.^[8]
• 1861 – Imperituro “imperishable” is recorded.^[5]

Meanings

Verb

1. (intransitive) To perish, to die, especially by violence or accident; a more elevated word than morire: trenta passeggeri perirono nel naufragio.^[6][2][7]
2. (intransitive, literary) In curses, in the subjunctive: may he perish.^[6][2]
3. (intransitive, figurative, literary) To suffer greatly, to languish, especially for love.^[6][4]
4. (intransitive) Of things, to be destroyed or lost.^[6][2]
5. (intransitive, figurative) To fade away, come to an end: un ricordo che non perirà.^[6][2][4]
6. (transitive, archaic) To kill, to destroy.^[6][15][1]

Word family

• perito
• perituro
• imperituro
• perimento

Related words

• deperire
• Latin pereō

Usage notes

The proverb chi di spada ferisce, di spada perisce means “who lives by the sword dies by the sword”.^[7][1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Devoto, Giacomo; Oli, Gian Carlo; Serianni, Luca; Trifone, Maurizio (2026), Nuovo Devoto–Oli: il vocabolario dell'italiano contemporaneo, digital ed., Milano: Le Monnier
3. ^ Sabatini, Francesco; Coletti, Vittorio; Manfredini, Manuela (2026), Dizionario italiano Sabatini Coletti, digital ed., Milano: Sansoni / Rizzoli Larousse
4. ^ a b c Zingarelli, Nicola (2009), Lo Zingarelli 2010: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Bologna: Zanichelli
5. ^ a b c d Nocentini, Alberto; Parenti, Alessandro (2010), l'Etimologico: vocabolario della lingua italiana, Firenze: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g h De Mauro, Tullio (ed.) (2003), Grande dizionario italiano dell'uso, CD-ROM version 2.0, Torino: UTET
7. ^ a b c d e f Duro, Aldo (ed.) (1986–1994), Vocabolario della lingua italiana, Roma: Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana; online ed. treccani.it/vocabolario (2008 copy)
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cortelazzo, Manlio; Zolli, Paolo (1999), Dizionario etimologico della lingua italiana, 2nd ed. by Manlio Cortelazzo and Michele A. Cortelazzo, Bologna: Zanichelli
9. ^ a b Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935), Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3rd ed., Heidelberg: Winter
10. ^ Körting, Gustav (1907), Lateinisch-romanisches Wörterbuch: etymologisches Wörterbuch der romanischen Hauptsprachen, 3rd ed., Paderborn: Schöningh
11. ^ Devoto, Giacomo (1968), Avviamento alla etimologia italiana: dizionario etimologico, 2nd ed., Firenze: Le Monnier
12. ^ a b c Battaglia, Salvatore; Bàrberi Squarotti, Giorgio (1961–2002), Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, 21 vols., Torino: UTET; digital ed. Accademia della Crusca, p. 13, 41
13. ^ Tommaseo, Niccolò; Bellini, Bernardo (1861–1879), Dizionario della lingua italiana, 4 vols., Torino: UTET
14. ^ Battisti, Carlo; Alessio, Giovanni (1950–1957), Dizionario etimologico italiano, 5 vols., Firenze: Barbèra (reprint 1975), p. 2856
15. ^ a b Gabrielli, Aldo (2020), Grande dizionario italiano, digital ed., Milano: Hoepli