perlabor

Forms

perlābor (present infinitive perlābī, perfect active perlāpsus sum); third conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + lābor¹ (“to glide, slip”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan lists it, with lābor¹, among the words placed beside labō (“to totter”), but he doubts that connection and leaves lābī without a further etymology.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan first finds it in Lucilius,^[4] who uses it of a horse that glides over plains and hills at a single pace.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It means to glide along, through or over something, mostly in poetry.^[5][6] Lucretius uses it of air passing through the eyes and of the moon gliding through the shadow of the cone, and Virgil of Neptune skimming the tops of the waves on light wheels and of a faint breath of fame that barely reaches us.^[5][6][7] In prose Cicero uses it of food passing through a vein to the heart, and Livy of two snakes that slipped into the temple of Jupiter.^[5][7] Cicero also says that Hercules passed to us and as far as the Ocean;^[6][8] Lewis and Short think this may be a poetic echo.^[6][8] Later poets such as Statius use it of rumour spreading through cities.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of a horse gliding over plains and hills.^[5][9]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of air passing through the eyes.^[5][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of food passing to the heart.^[5][9]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of Neptune skimming the waves.^[5][9]
• 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of snakes slipping into a temple.^[5][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To move smoothly onwards, glide along or through;^[5][6] (of a rumour) to spread.^[5][6]
2. To glide over or through, skim (the waves, the air).^[5][10]

Usage notes

The grammarian Velius Longus says that more refined speakers preferred pellābor to perlābor.^[2] Lucretius has the old infinitive perlābier.^[6][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b 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 f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.