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perfringo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word perfringo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (frangō)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin frango
Latin effringo
Latin infringo
Latin fragilis
Latin refringo
Latin perfringo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈfrɪŋ.ɡoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈfriŋ.ɡo][1]

Forms

perfringō (present infinitive perfringere, perfect active perfrēgī, supine perfrāctum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + frangō (“to break”).[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ⟨frangō⟩ to Proto-Italic *frang- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰr-n-ǵ- (“to break”), a nasal present, cognate with Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌹𐌺𐌰𐌽 (brikan, “to break”) and Old High German brehhan.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short cite Plautus' braggart soldier, told that with his fist he broke an elephant's arm;[5] the TLL lists it from the Rhetorica ad Herennium, Cicero and Lucretius onwards.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means “to break, shatter”, as Cicero's wind that will break tall masts, and figuratively to ruin a person or to smash laws and customs: the Rhetorica ad Herennium has someone breaking up other people's houses and families.[2][5] It is also “to break through, force a way through”, as Cicero's man who always broke through walls by force and courage, and “to break into” a city.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “shatter, break through”.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a broken limb.[5][7]
  • 86/82 BC – the Rhetorica ad Herennium of ruining households.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of breaking masts and walls.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To break, shatter, fracture.[2][5][1][6]
  2. To ruin a person; to violate laws or customs.[2][1]
  3. To break through, force a way through; to break into.[2][1][6]

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 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. ^ 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. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Perfringo.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/perfringo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·