perlego

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpɛr.ɫɛ.ɡoː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɛr.le.ɡo]^[1]

Forms

perlegō (present infinitive perlegere, perfect active perlēgī, supine perlēctum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled pellegō, as in Plautus and Cicero.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from per- “through” and legō “to read”.^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨legō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *leǵ- (“to collect”), cognate with Ancient Greek λέγω (légō, “to gather; to say”), and Wiktionary compares Paelignian ⟨pelegie⟩.^[4][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of reading through.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to read over, read through, aloud or to oneself, as in Plautus, and in Virgil to run one's eyes over, survey, and Ovid uses it the same way.^[2][6]

Its noun perlēctiō “a reading through” belongs with it.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of reading.^[2][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of surveying.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To read through.^[2]
2. To scan, survey.^[2]

Word family

• perlectiō

Related words

• allegō
• colligō
• dīligō
• ēligō
• intellegō
• legō
• neglegō
• praelegō
• relegō
• sēligō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.