penitus

Forms

penitus (not comparable)^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from the stem of penus (“provisions”) (as in penes and penetrō) with the adverbial suffix -tus, like funditus, and first meant “from the inside”.^[2][3][1] De Vaan explains the sense through “food” > “store” > “the inner part of the house”, and suggests that the adverb, the verb and the preposition go back to a stem ⟨*pen-et-⟩.^[4] He reconstructs penus as Proto-Indo-European *pen-os (“food”), cognate with Lithuanian penėti (“to feed”).^[4] The adjective meaning “inner” was made from the adverb.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it for “from within”: ipse ēgreditur penitus, “he is coming out from inside”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

From “from within, from deep inside” it came to mean “far within, deep down” and “far into a country” (penitus in Lūsitāniā, Cicero).^[3] Of the feelings it is “from the bottom of one's heart”, “deeply, wholeheartedly” (Cicero: acerbē et penitus ōderat), of knowing and seeing “thoroughly, profoundly”, and then “completely, utterly”.^[3][6]

The adjective penitus, comparative penitior, “inner, inmost”, is pre- and post-classical (Plautus, Apuleius).^[6][3] Medieval Latin uses the adverb for “wholly, completely”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ipse ēgreditur penitus.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of love planted deep in the heart.^[3][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius has the adjective penitus.^[6][5]

Meanings

Adverb

1. From within; from deep inside.^[3][1]
2. Deep within, deep down, deeply, far.^[3][1]
3. Far away, far into the interior (of a country).^[3]
4. From the bottom of one's heart; heartily.^[3]
5. Thoroughly, intimately, profoundly.^[3][1]
6. Completely, utterly.^[3][7]

Adjective

1. Inner, inward, inmost.^[3][6][8]

Word family

• penetrō

Related words

• penus
• penes
• Penātēs
• penetrālis

Usage notes

A rare adjective pēnītus, “having a tail”, from pēnis “tail”, is quoted by Festus from Naevius (pēnīta offa, a piece of meat with the tail).^[3][6][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson