Etymologically
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perfugium

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈfʊ.ɡi.ũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈfuː.d͡ʒi.um][1]

Forms

perfugium n (genitive perfugiī or perfugī); second declension[1] The metre confirms a genitive perfugī in Plautus.[2] Gregory of Tours spells it -fig-.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin perfugiō (“to flee for refuge”) + -ium.[3][1][2] ⟨perfugiō⟩ is from per- and fugiō (“to flee”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *bʰug-i- (“to flee”), cognate with Ancient Greek φεύγω (pheúgō, “to flee”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD date it from Plautus,[5] in whom someone does not know where to find help, protection or refuge, and another “won a way of escape with his feet”.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is a place of refuge or shelter and a way of escape.[3][6] Cicero uses it figuratively: exile is not a punishment but a refuge and harbour from punishment.[3] It is also a means of safety, as Cicero's “a ready refuge in Piso's fairness and good sense”, and an excuse one takes refuge in, “that most desperate refuge” of claiming one thought something lawful.[3]

Church Latin has it for refuge.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a refuge and a way of escape.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of exile as a refuge and of excuses.[3][5]
  • 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours spells it perfigium.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A place of refuge, shelter, sanctuary; a way of escape.[3][6][1][7]
  2. A means of protection or safety; an excuse one falls back on.[3]
  3. Political asylum.[1]

Usage notes

Döderlein's related group distinguishes the perfuga, who deserts and betrays his side, from the trānsfuga, who wavers and changes sides, the profugus, an exile, and the fugitīvus, who runs from duty or master.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b 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. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper