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perbonus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word perbonus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic *dweno-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin bonus
French bon
Italian buono
Latin perbonus
From the same root
Latin bonitas ← bonus
French bonheur ← bon
French bonjour ← bon
French bonsoir ← bon
Italian buongiorno ← buono

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛr.bɔ.nʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛr.bo.nus][1]

Forms

perbonus (feminine perbona, neuter perbonum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + bonus (“good”), with the intensifying prefix.[2][3][1] Old Latin had the adjective as ⟨duenos⟩, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *dweno-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *duh₂-eno-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.[5][3] In the Mercator an old man is jokingly offered as a sheep, said to be very good and easily shorn; in the Mostellaria a house was bought not in a very good spot but in the best.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

Plautus also uses it of a lunch and of shade in summer, and Cicero of fine embossed silver and of farmland that is very good by nature.[3][6] Cicero uses it of a situation too: perbonō locō rēs erat, matters stood very well.[2][6] The TLL notes that it is weaker than optimus.[3]

Its use of persons, “of excellent character”, rests on a conjectural reading in Cicero.[3][2] Petronius has Trimalchio praise a doorkeeper's lodge as very good.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a sheep, a house and a lunch.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of silverware, farmland and a situation.[3][5]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Very good of its kind, excellent; very good for its purpose.[2][3]
  2. (of persons) Of excellent character.[2]
  3. Very favourable.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Perbonus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/perbonus. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·