Etymologically
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comperio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔmˈpɛ.ri.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [komˈpɛː.ri.o][1]

Forms

comperiō (present infinitive comperīre, perfect active comperī, supine compertum); fourth conjugation[1] Deponent forms (comperior) occur only in the first person singular of the present.[2]

Etymology

It is formed from con- and a verb ⟨*-periō⟩ that is found also in experior (“to try”) and reperiō (“to find”), and in perīculum (“trial, danger”) and perītus (“experienced”).[2][3] The TLL thinks its conjugation was remodelled on ⟨reperiō⟩.[3] Wiktionary instead derives it from pariō (“to produce”), Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- (“to produce, beget”), and Lewis & Short mention both views.[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence, Andria: comperiēbam nīl ad Pamphilum quicquam attinēre, “I found out that none of it concerned Pamphilus”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to find out a fact by inquiry, learn or discover, with an accusative, an accusative and infinitive, or an indirect question (Livy: he learned from scouts how careless the enemy were).[2] It also means to learn by experience, to find something proved or verified, as Terence's character finds a woman better than he had thought.[2] With a predicate it means to find someone guilty: Livy's consul beheaded those he found guilty, and Suetonius has a man convicted of adultery (compertum adulterāre).[2] The participle compertus “ascertained, certain” is common in phrases such as compertum habēre, “to know for certain”.[4]

Church Latin glosses it “find, obtain certain knowledge”.[5]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence in the senses “find out” and “find by experience”.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a crime discovered.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of finding men guilty.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To find out, learn, discover, ascertain.[2][1][5]
  2. To learn by experience; to find, verify.[2][1]
  3. To find (someone) guilty.[2][1]

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 j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de