Etymologically
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perduellis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛr.duˈɛl.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [per.duˈɛl.lis][1]

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