perfundo

Forms

perfundō (present infinitive perfundere, perfect active perfūdī, supine perfūsum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin per- (“through, thoroughly”) + fundō (“to pour”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ⟨fundō⟩ to Proto-Italic *χunde/o- and a nasal present Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰu-n-d- (“to pour”), from the root of Ancient Greek χέω (khéō, “to pour”) and Sanskrit जुहोति (juhóti, “pours, sacrifices”).^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's examples begin with Cicero's Verrines, where Philodamus is drenched with boiling water,^[2][5] and Lucretius, whose rising sun floods everything with its light.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to pour through, and above all to pour over, wet or drench; in the passive it is to bathe, as Varro's oxen that drink and bathe in a pond, and of liquids to bathe the body, as Virgil's sweat breaking out over the limbs.^[2][5] It is used of rivers flowing through a land, of gilding a roof (Seneca), of light and colour spreading over things, and of sand strewn over fields.^[2] Figuratively it is to fill or imbue with a feeling, as Cicero's orator who suffused his hearers' minds with charm rather than broke through them.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “pour over, moisten, anoint; fill with apprehension”.^[6] English perfuse (early 15th century) comes from its past participle.^[3]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of sunlight spreading over things.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a man drenched with boiling water.^[2][7]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of cattle bathing.^[2][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca of gilding roofs.^[2][7]
• early 15th century – English perfuse.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pour (through).^[2]
2. To pour over, wet, drench, (passive) to bathe.^[2][1][5]
3. (of rivers, the sea) To flow through or over; to coat, overlay; to suffuse (with light, colour).^[2]
4. To strew, cover (with sand or the like).^[2]
5. To fill, imbue (with a feeling).^[2][1][6]
6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To anoint.^[6]

Word family

• perfūsiō
• perfūsor

Related words

• fundō
• cōnfundō
• effundō
• English perfuse

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 i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de