Etymologically
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pecco

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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
  • 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