Etymologically
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pergo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈpɛr.ɡoː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɛr.ɡo][1]

Forms

pergō (present infinitive pergere, perfect active perrēxī, supine perrēctum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin per- (“through”) + regō (“to direct”), through ⟨*per-regō⟩.[2][3][1] De Vaan derives regō from Proto-Italic *reg-e/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-e/o- (“to stretch, direct”), cognate with Ancient Greek ὀρέγω (orégō, “to stretch”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has illa ad nōs pergit, “she is coming our way”, and pergite … Bacchae, “go on, Bacchants”.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Pergere is “to make one's way, proceed, go on” toward a destination (Caecilius: ad plēbem pergitur, “they go to the people”), and of a line or path “to run on”.[2][3][1] Most often it means to go on with a course of action, “to continue, proceed”, with an infinitive or an accusative, and in speech “to go on”.[2][3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “to proceed, continue”.[6] Wiktionary also records the rare sense “to awaken”.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: illa ad nōs pergit.[2][5]
  • 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius: ad plēbem pergitur.[2][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses it of a nerve running to the heart.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To go on, proceed, make one's way.[2][3][1][6]
  2. To run on (of a line or path).[2]
  3. To continue, go on (with something).[2][3][1][6]
  4. To awaken.[1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon 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 c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson