Etymology and origin of the Latin word paveo
- Confidence
- Probable
- Formation
- Inherited
- First attested
- c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
- Inherited from
- Proto-Italic *pawē-
- Ultimate origin
- Proto-Indo-European (*pow-eh₁-)
Forms
paveō (present infinitive pavēre, perfect active pāvī); second conjugation, no supine stem[1] Ovid has the participial genitive plural paventum.[2]
Etymology
It is inherited from Proto-Italic *pawē- (“to be frightened”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *pow-eh₁- (“to fear”).[3][1] Cognate with Old Irish omun (“fear”) and Middle Welsh ouyn (“fear”), from Proto-Celtic ⟨*ofno-⟩, and úath (“fear”).[3] Walde–Hofmann and Ernout–Meillet instead take it as a stative counterpart of paviō (“to strike”), “to be struck”, which the OLD and Lewis and Short also mention.[3][4][2]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author,[3] as the Amphitruo: “they raise their heads, both of them (the snakes)” – “oh dear!” – “don't be afraid”.[4]
Semantic evolution
It is to be frightened or terrified, as in Plautus, and in Juvenal to show one's fear; with an object it is to be afraid of something, as in the Cistellaria, “I fear this and I dread that, so wholly am I in terror”.[4][2] Festus records that the ancients said corn “feared” when it did not come out of the sheath properly.[4]
Church Latin glosses it “fear, tremble with fear, quake”.[5]
Timeline
Meanings
Verb
Word family
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
- ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Derived terms
Related etymologies
- medicus · also from Proto-Indo-European
- materia · also from Proto-Indo-European
- industria · also from Proto-Indo-European
- pictura · also from Proto-Indo-European
- rotundus · also from Proto-Indo-European
- verto · also from Proto-Indo-European
- decido · also from Proto-Indo-European
- eligo · also from Proto-Indo-European
Cite this entry
“Paveo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/paveo. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.
Last edited on . ·