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deperdo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word deperdo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Latin (dō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin perdo
French perdre
French perdu
Latin deperdo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈpɛr.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈpɛr.do][1]

Forms

dēperdō (present infinitive dēperdere, perfect active dēperdidī, supine dēperditum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + perdō (“to destroy, lose”).[2][3][1] perdō is made from per- and dō (“to give, put”),[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL reads it from Cicero and Lucretius on.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to lose or be deprived of something.[2][5][1] In law it is to lose permanently: the jurist Gaius defines as lost what has ceased to exist.[2][5] In the passive it means to be utterly lost or ruined: Propertius compares a lover's state to Io's undoing, and Phaedrus has a cobbler ruined by poverty.[2][5] Suetonius uses the participle of being desperately in love.[5] Manuscripts sometimes confuse it with disperdō.[3] Stelten gives "destroy, ruin, lose" for Church Latin.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, its first use according to the TLL.[3]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius.[3]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of Io's undoing.[2]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius of what has ceased to exist.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To lose, be deprived of.[2][5][1]
  2. (law) To lose permanently.[2]
  3. (passive) To be utterly lost or ruined;[2][5][6] (participle) desperately in love.[2][5][6]

Word family

  • dēperditiō
  • dēperditum

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Deperdo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/deperdo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·