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pereo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word pereo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
204–169 BC, Ennius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₁ey-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin eo
French je
Latin comes
French comte
Latin subeo
French subir
Latin praetereo
Latin nequeo
Latin prodeo
Latin intereo
Latin redeo
Latin reditus
Latin reditio
Latin pereo
Latin adeo
Latin aditus
Latin obeo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛ.re.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛː.re.o][1]

Forms

pereō (present infinitive perīre, perfect active periī or perīvī, supine peritum); irregular conjugation, impersonal in the passive[1] Contracted perfect forms (perīstī, perit, perīsse) are frequent;[2][3] Apuleius has perīvit.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin per- + eō (“to go”), “to go through”, hence “to pass away”.[2][1][3] The verb “to go” continues Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius writes virgō pereat innocēns? “shall an innocent girl perish?”[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Perīre means “to vanish, disappear” and “to be wasted” (perit opera “it is a waste of trouble”).[2] Of persons it means “to perish, die”, with exaggeration “to pine away” and “to be madly in love” with someone, and “to be ruined”: periī! “I am lost!”.[2][1] Of things it means “to be destroyed”, and of circumstances “to come to an end”.[2]

Wiktionary also gives “to leak, be absorbed”.[1]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius: virgō pereat innocēns?[2][5]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: benignitātēs hominum periēre, “people's kindness has died out”.[2][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of a tree that perishes.[2][5]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence: periit, abiit, nāvem cōnscendit, “he has vanished, gone, boarded a ship”.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pass from view, vanish, disappear.[2][1][6]
  2. To be wasted;[2] perit opera, it is a waste of trouble.[2]
  3. To perish, die.[2][1][6]
  4. To pine away; to be madly in love (with).[2][1]
  5. To be ruined;[2] periī!, I am lost![2]
  6. (of things) To be destroyed;[2] (of circumstances) to come to an end.[2]
  7. To leak; to be absorbed.[1]

Word family

  • compereo
  • dēpereō
  • dispereō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Pereo.” Etymologically, 18 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pereo. Accessed 18 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·