perluo

Forms

perluō (present infinitive perluere, perfect active perluī, supine perlūtum); third conjugation^[1] The spelling pelluō is reported by the grammarian Velius Longus and transmitted in Fronto.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + lavō (“to wash”),^[1][2] with the compound form ⟨-luere⟩ found also in alluō and abluō.^[4][5] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *lowa- and Proto-Indo-European *(le-)louh₃- (“to wash”); de Vaan sees the same verb in the compounds in ⟨-luere⟩.^[5] Cognate with Umbrian vutu (“to wash”) and Ancient Greek λούω (loúō, “I wash”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Caesar on, though it queries whether the passage is interpolated;^[2] Horace also has it.^[2] Caesar writes that men and women bathe together in rivers (promiscue in fluminibus perluuntur).^[6]

Semantic evolution

The active means to wash something all over: Ovid has manus unda and vivo perlue rore manus, “wash your hands in running water”,^[3][6] Columella vessels rinsed with water and a mouth rinsed with wine, Celsus the intestines, Pliny a temple wetted with dripping wings, and Fronto the pavement in baths.^[3][7] In Petronius sweat bathes the face (sudor perluit ora).^[3] The reflexive or passive means to bathe: Ovid's perluitur solita Titania lympha, “Titania bathes in her usual pool”,^[3] and Horace.^[6][3] Apuleius has sudore perlutus, wet with sweat.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses the passive of bathing in rivers.^[6][8]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of bathing.^[6][8]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of washing the hands.^[3][8]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of washing the intestines.^[7][8]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of rinsing vessels.^[3][8]
• 100–170 AD – Fronto uses it of washing the pavement of baths.^[7][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wash all over, rinse thoroughly.^[4][3][7]
2. (reflexive or passive) To bathe.^[4][3]

Related words

• lavō

References

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