Etymologically
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pecto

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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
  • 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.