Etymologically
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perago

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛ.ra.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛː.ra.ɡo][1]

Forms

peragō (present infinitive peragere, perfect active perēgī, supine perāctum); third conjugation[1] Cato has the old passive infinitive peragier.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- (“through”) + agō (“to drive, do”).[3][1][4] De Vaan traces agō to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive, lead”).[5] The TLL notes that grammarians cite it as a compound that keeps the vowel ⟨a⟩ unchanged.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato, in a speech: cum tantam rem peragier arbitrārer, “since I thought so great a matter was being carried through”.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense, “to drive through”, gives “to chase about, harass” (Seneca) and “to pierce, transfix” (Ovid: Thēseus latus ēnse perēgit), only in poetry and post-Augustan prose.[3][2] Its main sense is “to carry through”: to perform or execute an action, to finish a task (often successfully), to complete something growing or being built, to use up resources, and to play a part (partēs peragere).[3][1] Reum peragere is to carry a prosecution through to the end (Livy, Ovid).[3] It is also to traverse a distance (Vitruvius), and used alone, to pass one's life.[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “finish, accomplish, complete, celebrate, attain”.[7]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato: cum tantam rem peragier arbitrārer.[3][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy: reum peragere.[3][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid: latus ēnse perēgit.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To chase about, harass.[3][1]
  2. To pierce, transfix.[3][2][1][7]
  3. reum peragere, to carry a prosecution through.[3]
  4. To carry out, perform, execute.[3][1]
  5. To finish, complete, accomplish.[3][1][7]
  6. To use up, get through.[3][1]
  7. partēs peragere, to play a part.[3]
  8. To traverse, pass through.[3][1]

Word family

  • perāctiō
  • semiperactus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson