percrebresco

Forms

percrēbrēscō (present infinitive percrēbrēscere, perfect active percrēbruī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1] It is also spelled percrēbēscō, perfect percrēbuī.^[2][3][1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + crēbrēscō (“to become frequent”).^[2][1][4] The TLL notes that crēbrēscō is found only from Virgil on, so the compound may rather have been formed by changing the prefix of incrēbrēscō, which is used from Plautus on.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short's first quotations are Cicero's, of a matter spreading and of an opinion that has spread among foreign nations.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Of ideas and practices it is to become very widespread, to be widely diffused or very common.^[2][3] Of news and beliefs it is to become widely reported or believed: Cicero says a thing spread and began to be on everyone's lips, Tacitus that the illness of Germanicus became known, and Pliny the Younger that it had long been believed that Rome could not be fed without the wealth of Egypt.^[2] Church Latin glosses it to become prevalent, be spread abroad, become well known.^[5]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a matter and an opinion spreading.^[2][3][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of the news of an illness.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To become very widespread or common, to prevail.^[2][3][1][5]
2. To be widely reported or believed, to spread abroad.^[2][3][1]

Related words

• incrēbrēscō
• crēber

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de