perduro

Forms

perdūrō (present infinitive perdūrāre, perfect active perdūrāvī, supine perdūrātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + dūrō (“to harden; to last”).^[2][1][3] The simple verb is formed from dūrus (“hard”), and de Vaan explains its sense “endure, last” as grown out of “be hard”.^[4] He traces the adjective to Proto-Indo-European *du(e)h₂-ro- (“far, long”), cognate with Sanskrit दूर (dūrá-, “far, distant”) and Ancient Greek δηρός (dērós, “long”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[4][5] in the sense of holding out: quin tu aliquot dies perdura, “why not hold out for a few days?”^[2]

Semantic evolution

Terence and Seneca use it of holding out or bearing up,^[6][7] and Suetonius has perdurare non posse, not being able to hold out.^[8] From Vitruvius on it also means to last, persist or survive, and Seneca uses it of an unborn child lasting until birth.^[2] The TLL finds it only here and there in classical writers and rather more often in later ones such as Rufinus.^[9] Prudentius uses it transitively, of hardening tender soles,^[8][10] and the Vulgate of continuing daily with one mind in the temple;^[7] Ecclesiastical Latin uses it for enduring, lasting a long time and abiding.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of holding out.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of holding out with someone.^[6][7][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of fish surviving in water.^[2][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius has perdurare non posse.^[8][5]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it transitively, “to harden”.^[8][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of continuing in the temple.^[7][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To continue in existence, persist, last, endure.^[2][11]
2. To continue right through (a period).^[2]
3. To hold out, bear up to the end.^[2][6]
4. (Late Latin, transitive) To make hard, harden.^[8][10]

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
9. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
11. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson