perimetros

Forms

perimetros f (genitive perimetrī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek περίμετρος (perímetros).^[2][3][4] The Greek word is formed from περί (perí, “around”) and μέτρον (métron, “measure”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius is the first to use it, of the circumference of the orchestra at the bottom of a theatre.^[5][4]

Semantic evolution

It stayed a technical word for the circuit or circumference of a body.^[5][2] Frontinus uses it for the circumference of a water pipe, by which, beside the diameter and the area, the size of a pipe was measured.^[5][3] English perimeter comes from it.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the circumference of a theatre's orchestra.^[5][4]
• early 15th century – English borrows it as perimeter.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A circumference, perimeter.^[2][3]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com