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percolo

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percolo1 cultivate, honour

Forms

percolō (present infinitive percolere, perfect active percoluī, supine percultum); third conjugation[1][2]

Etymology

The verb meaning to cultivate is from Latin per- (“thoroughly”) + colō1 (“to till, tend, worship”).[1][2] De Vaan traces colō1 to Proto-Italic *kwele/o- and Proto-Indo-European *kwelh1-e/o- (“to go round”).[3] Cognate with Sanskrit चरति (cárati, “to move, walk”) and Ancient Greek πέλομαι (pélomai, “to move”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it in Plautus and then from Tacitus on.[2] In the Poenulus it means to adorn carefully, of a woman who, though washed, is as good as unwashed unless she is well groomed: quae lauta est nisi perculta est … quasi inluta est;[1] in the Trinummus it is to honour one's father dutifully, patrem tuom si percoles per pietatem.[1]

Semantic evolution

Tacitus uses it of earlier writers who embellished with eloquence what had not yet been ascertained, of honouring men with prefectures and senatorial rank, and of paying court to a man's wife and children.[1] Pliny the Younger uses it of completing what he had begun.[1] Apuleius, in whom the TLL counts it about ten times,[2] has it of cultivating the Eleusinian soil, of grooming the mouth, of worshipping Cupid and Isis, and of devoting oneself to studies and wisdom.[1] Church Latin glosses it to reverence, honour, adorn, decorate.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of adorning and of honouring a father.[1][5]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of adorning and honouring.[1][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of cultivating the soil and worshipping gods.[1][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To cultivate (the soil).[1][6]
  2. To adorn or embellish carefully.[1][6][4]
  3. To treat (gods, superiors) with respect, honour, worship.[1][4]
  4. To devote oneself to (studies, pursuits); to perfect, finish.[1][6]

Word family

  • percultor

percolo2 strain, filter

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈkoː.ɫoː][7]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈkɔː.lo][7]

Forms

percōlō (present infinitive percōlāre, perfect active percōlāvī, supine percōlātum); first conjugation[7]

Etymology

The verb meaning to strain is from Latin per- (“through”) + cōlō2 (“to strain, filter”),[1][2][7] and cōlō2 comes from cōlum (“sieve, strainer”).[1][7] De Vaan finds the origin of cōlum unclear: it has been taken as the same word as caulae (“lattice barrier”), since the oldest sieve was a wicker basket, but he prefers a joint explanation with quālum (“basket”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato, in his work on farming, writes tum vinum percolato, “then strain the wine”.[6]

Semantic evolution

The TLL notes that it is mostly passive and that grammarians assign it to the first conjugation.[2] Celsus, Columella and Pliny the Elder use it of straining through a filter or sieve.[6] Of any substance that lets liquid through it is to filter: Lucretius has moisture that percolates through the earth and grows mild,[1][6] Vitruvius melted snow filtering through the veins of the earth,[1] and Pliny the Elder soil that lets heavy rain pass through.[1] Lewis & Short note a general sense, to make something pass through, as food and drink.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato, of straining wine.[6][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of moisture filtering through the earth.[1][6][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius, of melted snow.[1][5]
  • 1620s – English percolate, “to strain through”, from its participle or from percolation.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To strain, put through a filter or sieve.[1][6][7]
  2. Of a permeable substance, to let (liquid) through;[1][6] (passive) to trickle, percolate.[1][6]

Word family

  • percōlātiō
  • English percolate

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  8. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com