Etymologically
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penetro

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛ.nɛ.troː], [pɛˈnɛt.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛː.ne.tro], [peˈnɛt.ro][1]

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

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