Etymologically
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penitus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛ.nɪ.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛː.ni.tus][1]

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

  • 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