Etymologically
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periurium

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Forms

periūrium n (genitive periūriī or periūrī); second declension[1] The OLD lists it under pēiūrium, also spelled pēiiūrium and periūrium.[2]

Etymology

The OLD forms it from pēierō (“to swear falsely”) with the suffix -ium;[2] Lewis and Short and Köbler from periūrus (“perjured”).[3][4] Both belong to iūrō (“to swear”), from iūs (“law, oath”).[5] According to Leumann, cited by de Vaan, the variation between ⟨-ierāre⟩ and ⟨-iūrāre⟩ comes from a blend of ⟨periūrāre⟩ with ⟨pēierāre⟩ “to make worse”, from pēius (“worse”).[5] De Vaan derives the noun ⟨iūs⟩ from Proto-Italic *jowos (“oath, law”), from an s-stem of Proto-Indo-European *h₂oi-u (“vital force, eternity”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] who speaks of cheats who have made their fortune by usury or by false oaths.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is a breach of oath or a false oath, perjury: Plautus has a man “full of perjury” and people who try to win a lawsuit by perjury.[2] Cicero defines it: not to do what you swore on your conscience to do is perjury.[3] Köbler gives Cicero as its first author.[4] Lewis and Short also give the wider sense of perfidy or treachery.[1][3]

Church Latin glosses it “false oath, perjury”.[6] English perjury came from it in the late 14th century, through Anglo-French, as a legal term for swearing to what one knows to be false.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of fortunes made by false oaths.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero defines it as failing to do what one has sworn.[3][4]
  • late 14th century – English perjury, through Anglo-French.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A false oath, breach of oath, perjury.[2][3][1][6]
  2. Perfidy, treachery.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com