perennis

Forms

perennis (neuter perenne, adverb perenne); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from per (“through”) and annus (“year”) with the suffix -is, “lasting through the year”.^[2][1][3] The TLL reconstructs ⟨*per-atn-i-⟩ and compares the same formation in Umbrian perakne, a quality of sacrificial animals.^[3][4] De Vaan traces ⟨annus⟩ to Proto-Italic *atno- and Proto-Indo-European *h₂et-no-, from a root “to go, wander”, the year being what goes round.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[4] who in a prologue wishes the audience “perennial profit”.^[2] Köbler's first source is Ennius.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is “continuing through the year”, used above all of rivers and springs that never dry up, and of birds that stay all year;^[2][6] Livy has the complaint that soldiers were made to serve all year round.^[2][6] More generally it is “constant, uninterrupted”, as of the fixed stars, and “lasting for many years, enduring”: Virgil speaks of a fame that is everlasting, and Cicero of talk about men that is not lasting.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “everlasting, eternal, perpetual”,^[7] and in Medieval Latin it also meant “heavenly”.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of constant profit.^[2][4][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius.^[5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of lasting fame.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of year-round service.^[2][5]
• Medieval Latin – “eternal, heavenly”.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Continuing throughout the year; of rivers and springs, never failing, perennial.^[2][6][1]
2. Constant, uninterrupted, continual.^[2][1]
3. Lasting many years, enduring; everlasting, eternal.^[2][1][7][8]

Word family

• perenniseruus
• perennitās
• perennō

Related words

• annus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill