Etymologically
Log in

pergratus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 14:22. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈɡraː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈɡraː.tus][1]

Forms

pergrātus (feminine pergrāta, neuter pergrātum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + grātus (“pleasing”), with the intensive prefix.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces the simple adjective to Proto-Italic *gʷrāto- (“grateful”) and Proto-Indo-European *gʷr̥H-to- (“praised (in a song)”), and compares Oscan brateís (“of grace”) and Sanskrit गृणाति (gr̥ṇā́ti, “to praise, honour, welcome”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,[5] who in the De oratore tells of people saying that the Athenians had done them a great favour, pergratum … sibi fecisse.[2]

Semantic evolution

The TLL finds it mostly in Cicero, 36 times, 28 of them in the letters, with two instances in Livy and three in the letters of Pliny the Younger.[3] It means very welcome or pleasing, as of a letter,[6] and is common in the phrase pergratum facere, “to do a great favour”, as in pergratum mihi feceris, si …, “you would do me a great kindness if …”.[2][6] Cicero also splits it by tmesis: per mihi, per, inquam, gratum feceris.[2][6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it, mostly in his letters and in pergratum facere.[2][3][5]
  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it twice.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Very welcome or pleasing.[2][6]
  2. pergratum facere: to do a great favour.[2][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press