pecto

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɛk.toː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɛk.to]^[1]

Forms

pectō (present infinitive pectere, perfect active pexī, supine pexum); third conjugation^[1] The perfect is barely attested outside the grammarians; the participle is pexus, also pectitus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *petke/o- (“to comb”), from Proto-Indo-European *p(e)tḱ-, which Pinault explains as a dissimilated reduplicated *pe-pḱ- of Proto-Indo-European *peḱ- (“to pluck”), fitting the repeated motion of combing.^[4][1] The noun pecten “comb” is from the same stem.^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek πέκω (pékō, “to comb, shear”), Ancient Greek κτείς (kteís, “comb”), Lithuanian pèšti (“to pluck”) and Old High German fehtan (“to fight”).^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it.^[4] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was to comb the hair, as Horace's Paris combing his locks in vain and Tibullus' fine-toothed comb, and to card or comb wool and flax, as in Columella and Pliny.^[2][6] By extension it was to hoe or weed, and figuratively to give someone a thrashing.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[4][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of Paris combing his hair.^[2][5]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of carding wool.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To comb (hair).^[2][3]
2. To card, heckle (wool, flax).^[2][1]
3. To hoe, weed.^[1]
4. To thrash.^[1]

Word family

• dēpectō
• impexus
• oppectō
• pecten
• pectiō
• perpexus
• pexātus
• pexitās
• prōpexus
• repectō
• pectitus
• pexus

Related words

• pectinārius
• pectinātim
• pectinātor
• pectinātus
• pectinō
• pectunculus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.