Etymologically
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perfacilis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈfa.kɪ.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈfaː.t͡ʃi.lis][1]

Forms

perfacilis (neuter perfacile, adverb perfacile); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- (“very”) + facilis (“easy”).[2][3][1] facilis comes from faciō (“to do, make”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *fak-i- and the aorist of Proto-Indo-European *dheh1- (“to put”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Plautus, who has it twice.[3][5] In the Menaechmi, asked to make a man sane, the other speaker answers that it is very easy: perfacile id quidemst.[2]

Semantic evolution

Of a task it means very easy:[2] Cicero speaks of a defence very easy and ready to hand, and of a teaching very easy to grasp, and Caesar of something very easy to carry out.[6] Of persons it means very accommodating or courteous, as when Cicero has someone seem very easy to listen to him.[2][6] The neuter perfacile is used as an adverb, very easily or very willingly.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of a task that is very easy.[2][3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of a very easy defence and of a person very willing to listen.[2][6][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of a plan very easy to carry out.[6][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of a task: very easy.[2][6][1]
  2. Of persons: very accommodating, very courteous.[2][6][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press