pergrandis

Forms

pergrandis (neuter pergrande); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- (“very”) + grandis (“large”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of grandis, from Plautus on.^[4] He finds the origin of ⟨grandis⟩ unclear: Walde–Hofmann and Pokorny connected Ancient Greek βρένθος (brénthos, “pride”) and a Slavic word for the breast, but he rejects the sound change and the meanings as gratuitous, and finds Vennemann's proposal that ⟨grandis⟩ and Basque handi (“big”) are survivors of an old Vasconic substrate too dependent on ad hoc assumptions.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[4][5] whose Persa has a promise of news from which the hearer could make a very large profit, pergrande lucrum.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It means very large, of amounts of money, of size and of age.^[2][6] Cicero uses it in the Verrines of a very large sum of money and of a ladle cut from a single huge gem, and in his speech on the agrarian law of a very heavy tax.^[2][3] Livy has pergrandis natu, of very advanced age, said of a king's brother.^[2][3] Nonius explains a kind of ship as very large, and the Vulgate has Joshua set up a very large stone.^[3] Lewis and Short call it rare, though classical.^[7]

British medieval writers used it for very large in size and in number or importance:^[8] Bede writes of an island in a very large lake from which the Derwent rises, and William of Malmesbury uses the neuter plural as a noun, great things.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a very large profit.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a large sum and of a huge gem.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses pergrandis natu, very old.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of a very large stone.^[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very large, huge (in size or amount).^[2][6]
2. (with natu) Of very advanced age.^[2][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) Very great in number or importance;^[8] (neuter plural as noun) great things.^[8]

Related words

• grandis
• praegrandis

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.