Etymologically
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perdix

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpɛr.diːks][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɛr.diks][1]

Forms

perdīx m or f (genitive perdīcis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek πέρδιξ (pérdix, “partridge”).[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Varro (116–27 BC).[4] Varro writes of Boeotian partridges, with a Greek accusative perdicas.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

It meant the partridge, as in Pliny and Martial.[2][6] Georges notes that Martial's picta perdix is the black grouse and another of his partridges the ptarmigan.[5] The Vulgate uses it in Jeremiah.[6]

Isidore says it is named from its call and calls it a crafty bird that steals and hatches others' eggs.[7] Perdix was also the name of Daedalus' nephew in Ovid.[2][6] Romance kept it, as Spanish perdiz, and English partridge came from Old French around 1300.[1][8]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro writes of Boeotian partridges.[2][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of the partridge.[6][4]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial names the painted partridge.[5][4]
  • c. 1300 – English partridge is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A partridge.[2][1]

Word family

  • perdicalis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com