penetro

Forms

penetrō (present infinitive penetrāre, perfect active penetrāvī, supine penetrātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from penes (“in the possession of, within”), with its ending after intrō (“to enter”), Wiktionary also names penitus (“inwardly”).^[2][1] English sources relate it to ⟨penitus⟩ and penetrālis (“innermost”).^[3] Lewis and Short derived it from the root of pāscō (“to feed”), as with penātēs.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Trinummus: quīn prius mē ad plūrīs penetrāvī?, “why did I not go over to the majority sooner?”, that is, die.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its first use is to put or bring something inside, also reflexively, Lucretius has things that, once inside, cause a bitter sensation.^[2][4] It is to make one's way into or as far as, as Virgil's men who press into the halls of kings, and to cross a river (Cicero, of Croesus crossing the Halys).^[2] Of things it is to work into something, and of ideas and practices to spread: Pliny wonders when something first reached the Romans.^[2] It is to penetrate with the mind, and of feelings to affect someone deeply: nothing struck Tiberius more than the people's enthusiasm for Agrippina (Tacitus).^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “penetrate, enter”.^[6] English penetrate (1520s) comes from its participle.^[3]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of “going over” to the dead.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of things that work their way in.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of entering halls.^[2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of a feeling that struck Tiberius.^[2][5]
• 1520s – English penetrate.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put or bring inside.^[2][4]
2. To make one's way into, enter; to cross (a river).^[2][1][6]
3. (of things, ideas) To penetrate, reach, spread to.^[2][1][6]
4. To penetrate with the mind, (of feelings) to affect deeply.^[2]
5. (of practices) To go as far as.^[2]

Word family

• penetrābilis
• penetrālis
• penetrātiō
• penetrator

Related words

• penes
• penitus
• intrō
• English penetrate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson