Etymologically
Log in

perditio

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

perditiō f (genitive perditiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin perdō (“to destroy, lose”) + -tiō, a noun of action.[1][2][3] Etymonline describes it as formed on the past-participle stem of perdō, made of per- and the verb dō (“to give, put”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from the Old Latin Bible and Tertullian on, mostly in Scripture and Church writers,[3] in the sense of ruin and destruction.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It is a post-classical word.[2] In Christian Latin it rendered Greek ἀπώλεια (apṓleia), both for destruction and death and for the ruin of the soul,[3][2] a sense the Vulgate uses often.[2] It also meant the loss of something, as of one's good name,[5] and waste.[6]

In Medieval Latin it meant a mishap or downfall, the perdition of the soul, and a loss or injury;[7] British writers also used it of financial ruin.[8] Italian perdizione continues the Late Latin word,[6] and English perdition came from it partly through Old French.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Found from the Old Latin Bible and Tertullian on.[3][9]
  • 3rd century AD – Minucius Felix uses it.[9]
  • c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses it for ruin and destruction.[2][5][9]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Matthew 7:13 and often elsewhere.[2][9]
  • 417/418 AD – Orosius uses it.[5][9]
  • mid-14th century – English perdition appears in the theological sense of damnation.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Ruin, destruction, death.[2][3][10]
  2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) perdition, the ruin of the soul.[11][7][6]
  3. The loss of something; waste.[5][6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) A mishap or downfall; a loss or injury.[7][8]
  • English perdition

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson