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parumper

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word parumper

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
204–169 BC, Ennius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*peh₂u-ro-,*péri)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin parum
Latin parumper

Forms

parumper (not comparable)[1] Lindsay suspects an old spelling parvomper in Plautus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin parum (“a little”) + -per (“for, through”), originally a phrase with a postposition.[3][2][1] De Vaan traces parum, the neuter of the stem of parvus (“small”), to Proto-Italic *pauro- and Proto-Indo-European *peh₂u-ro-, and the suffix -per, which marks duration, to Proto-Italic *peri (“through, across”) and Proto-Indo-European *péri (“across”).[4] Festus glosses it as paulisper.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius,[6] whose Annals have “that you, my kinswoman, may visit me from heaven for a moment”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means for a short while, for a moment, as Plautus' “be quiet a moment”.[3][5] Ennius also uses it of a short time, quickly, of someone who crossed the plain at a rapid pace and plunged into the wood.[3] Döderlein distinguishes it from paulisper: parumper is “in a short time”, with a glance to the future, and goes with acts of the mind, paulisper “during a short time”, with acts of the body.[7]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of a moment and of haste.[3][6]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of being quiet for a moment.[5][4][6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. For a short while, for a moment, briefly.[3][5][1]
  2. In a short time, quickly.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Parumper.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/parumper. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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