perduellis

Forms

perduellis m (genitive perduellis); third declension^[1] An old genitive plural perduellum occurs in Accius.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + duellum (“war”), the old form of bellum.^[2][4][1] The TLL suggests that the form with ⟨du⟩ survived because perduelliō had become a legal term, comparing rebellis beside rebellō; de Vaan reports Meiser's view that legal terminology preserved it.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[5][4][6] in elevated language:^[4] the Amphitruo tells how its hero defeated the enemy.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In early Latin it was the word for a foreign enemy at war with one's own people;^[2][3] Plautus also transfers it to a private enemy in the Pseudolus.^[7][8] Ennius and Accius use it, and Livy keeps it in formal language such as a solemn prayer of Scipio and a decree of the senate.^[4][3] By Cicero's time it was archaic: Varro explains that hostis, once “foreigner”, had come to mean what the ancients called perduellis, and Cicero notes in the De officiis that the milder hostis had replaced it.^[4][3] After Cicero it appears mainly where the meaning is explained or old language is imitated;^[4] later it was revived in a sense mixed with that of perduelliō, “traitor, rebel”, twelve times in Ammianus Marcellinus.^[4]

Glossaries explain it as an enemy or warrior.^[4] In British medieval Latin it meant an enemy, a fighter, and as an adjective hostile or rebellious.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the national enemy.^[4][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[4][6]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses the genitive plural perduellum.^[2][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro explains it as the old word for hostis.^[4][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero comments on its replacement by hostis.^[4][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it twelve times in a sense close to “rebel”.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A member of a nation at war with one's own, a public enemy.^[2][3]
2. (figurative) A personal enemy.^[7]
3. (Late Latin) A traitor, rebel.^[4]
4. (Medieval Latin) A fighter; as an adjective, hostile, rebellious.^[9]

Word family

• perduelliō

Usage notes

Cicero says that a pirate is not counted among the perduellēs but is the common enemy of all.^[3][4] The related perduelliō meant high treason.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ 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