percarus

Pronunciation

• Classical: [pɛrˈkaː.rʊs]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [perˈkaː.rus]^[1]

Forms

percārus (feminine percāra, neuter percārum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + cārus (“dear”), with the intensive prefix.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces cārus to Proto-Italic *kāro- (“dear”) and Proto-Indo-European *keh₂-ro- (“desired, desirable”), a derivative in ⟨-ro-⟩ with the full grade of the root.^[4] Cognate with Faliscan karai (“dear”) and Old Irish carae (“friend”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Terence,^[5] whose Phormio has it in the sense “very expensive”, of a slave girl priced at thirty minae.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its two senses follow those of cārus: very costly, and very dear in affection.^[2][3] Cicero, in the speech for Scaurus, says of a man that he was in turn very dear and pleasing to others,^[2][6] and Tacitus and Justin use it in the same way.^[6] The TLL notes that it is often construed with a dative of the person.^[3]

British medieval writers kept both senses, of a beloved person or place and of costly goods and food, and Gerald of Wales also used it for something very desirable.^[7]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a very expensive slave girl.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a man very dear to others.^[2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it in the sense “much beloved”.^[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very dear, greatly beloved.^[2][6]
2. Very expensive, costly.^[2][6]
3. (Medieval Latin) Very desirable.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b 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 f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press