Etymologically
Log in

percolopo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 18:53. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

percolopō (present infinitive percolopāre, perfect active percolopāvī, supine percolopātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin per- + colaphus (“a punch, a blow with the fist”) with the ending of first-conjugation verbs,[1][2][3] using a popular form ⟨colop-⟩ of the noun.[1][2] The TLL refers to studies of the colloquial language of Petronius for it.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It occurs only in Petronius (before 66 AD), in the phrase sic istos percolopabant, “so they used to beat those men”.[2][1][4]

Semantic evolution

It never spread beyond this one passage of the Satyricon;[2] the OLD defines it as striking with the hand, cuffing.[1]

Timeline

  • before 66 AD – Petronius uses it once, in the Satyricon.[2][1][4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To beat with the fists, cuff, box someone's ears.[1][3][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de