Etymologically
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perennis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛˈrɛn.nɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [peˈrɛn.nis][1]

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

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