pecco

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɛk.koː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɛk.ko]^[1]

Forms

peccō (present infinitive peccāre, perfect active peccāvī, supine peccātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[2][3] Walde and Hofmann and Ernout and Meillet proposed *ped-ko- “having a fault in the foot”, from pēs, like mancus and caecus, and the OLD calls it probably connected with pēs.^[2][4] De Vaan objects that the verb never refers to feet, and that a false step would hardly be named after the foot.^[2] Leumann's *pet-ko- “a fall, error”, from the root Proto-Indo-European *pet- (“to fall”), fits the sense better, but the formation is strange.^[2] Umbrian pesetom (“an act spoiling a rite?”) may be related.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose slave admits he had blundered.^[2][4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to blunder in action or thought, to make a mistake, then to commit a fault of any kind, as Cicero's actor who has once erred in a gesture.^[4] Most of all it meant to commit a moral offence, to do wrong, as Plautus' young man who confesses he has done wrong and deserved blame.^[4]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to sin, to transgress.^[6] Its descendants include French pécher, Italian peccare and Spanish pecar.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of blundering and of wrongdoing.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of an actor's error.^[4][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To blunder, make a mistake.^[4]
2. To commit a fault, act incorrectly.^[4]
3. To do wrong, commit a moral offence.^[4]
4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To sin.^[6]

Word family

• compecco
• peccāmen
• peccantia
• peccatela
• peccātiō
• peccātor
• peccātrīx
• peccātum
• peccātus
• peccābilis

Related words

• peccāns
• peccātōrius
• English peccadillo
• English impeccable

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson