perfero

Forms

perferō (present infinitive perferre, perfect active pertulī, supine perlātum); third conjugation, suppletive^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin per- (“through”) + ferō (“to carry”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan derives ferō from Proto-Italic *fere/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰer-e/o- (“to carry”); the past participle ⟨-lātum⟩ belongs to another root, *tlh₂-to- (“lifted”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it of delivering money: iubēbō ad istam quīnque perferrī minās, “I will have five minae brought to her”, and of enduring: feram et perferam, “I will bear it and bear it to the end”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Perferre is to carry something all the way, “to convey, deliver” (Cicero of letters and books), and in poetry to drive a weapon home (Virgil).^[2][5] It is to deliver a message or report and to bring news of an event, and Quintilian uses it of putting ideas across to an audience.^[2][1] It also means “to carry on, extend”, of animals and plants to carry offspring or fruit to full term, and “to keep up to the end” (Ovid: pertulit intrepidōs ad fāta novissima vultūs, “he kept a fearless face to his last moments”).^[2] In public life it is to get a law passed.^[2]

Most often it means “to endure, suffer to the end” (Accius: novem hiemēs saxō strātus pertulī, “I lay nine winters on the rock”), and “to put up with, tolerate”.^[2][1] Döderlein notes that perferre, like tolerāre and patī, refers to the state of mind of the one who bears, where ferre only looks at the burden.^[6] In Church Latin it also means “to report, complete”,^[7] and “to bear the penalty of”.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: quīnque perferrī minās;^[2][8] feram et perferam.^[2][8]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius: novem hiemēs … pertulī.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of passing a law: dē iūdiciīs nūlla lēx perlāta.^[2][8]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a spear driven home.^[2][8]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it of conveying ideas to listeners.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To carry, convey (to a person or place), deliver;^[2][5][1][7] to drive home (a weapon).^[2][5]
2. To deliver (a message), report; to bring news of.^[2][1][7]
3. To carry on, extend; to carry (offspring, fruit) to full term.^[2]
4. To keep up to the end, sustain; to carry out (a task).^[2][1]
5. To get (a law) passed.^[2]
6. To endure, suffer to the end; to survive.^[2][5][1]
7. To put up with, tolerate.^[2][1]
8. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To bear the penalty of.^[1]

Word family

• perferentia
• perlātiō
• perlator
• perlatrix
• perferēns

Related words

• ferō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de