Etymologically
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pareo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpaː.re.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpaː.re.o][1]

Forms

pāreō (present infinitive pārēre, perfect active pāruī, supine pāritum); second conjugation, impersonal in the passive[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pās-ē-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-s- (“to watch, see”), a stative “to be visible”.[2] De Vaan connects it with pār “equal”, through “visible, obvious, seeming”, and with Old Armenian հայիմ (hayim, “to see”) and Albanian pashë (“I saw”).[2] The Thesaurus calls the origin uncertain, and the Oxford Latin Dictionary notes that the link between the senses “to obey” and “to be visible” is unclear.[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livius Andronicus uses it.[2] Plautus says “I'll obey your instructions”.[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin, with the dative, it was to submit or be subject to, to obey laws, commands or advice, to give way to circumstances or appetites, and to attend on a magistrate.[4][5] It was also to be visible, as Seneca's dim ridges of Ida, and in law to be clear or evident, impersonally pāret “it appears”, from Cicero on.[4][2] Döderlein says it is obedience as a servant's duty, against oboediō.[6]

Its compound appāreō “to appear” gave English appear.[7] It survives as Romanian părea.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of obeying.[4][8]
  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses appārēre.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses pāret “it appears”.[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To submit, be subject (to).[4][1]
  2. To obey, comply with.[4][9]
  3. To give way (to circumstances, feelings).[4]
  4. To attend (on a magistrate).[4]
  5. To be visible, appear.[4][1]
  6. (law) To be evident, pāret, it is clear.[4][2]

Word family

  • appāreō
  • compāreō
  • dispāreō
  • impārens
  • parentia
  • paritor
  • trānspāreō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press