permagnus

Forms

permagnus (feminine permagna, neuter permagnum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- (“very”) + magnus (“great”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan, who dates it from Terence, traces magnus to Proto-Italic *magno- (“great”) and Proto-Indo-European *mǵ-no- (“great”), comparing Sanskrit महि (máhi-, “large”) and Hittite mekk- (“much, many”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence uses it in the phrase “it matters very much”.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It means very great in size, as Varro's hares in Gaul, and especially very great in amount or degree, as Cicero's large inheritance and great favour.^[2][6] Permagnō is “for a very high price” and permagnī “at a very high value”.^[2] It also means very important, and of actions very remarkable: Cicero tells of a man who thought it a very great thing that three Olympic victors came from one house.^[2][6] It has no comparative, and it is sometimes split by another word.^[3][2]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence of something that matters very much.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of very large hares.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a large inheritance and many other things.^[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very large, very great in size.^[2][6][1]
2. Very great in number, amount or degree;^[2][6][1] permagnō, for a very high price;^[2][6][1] permagnī, at a very high value.^[2][6][1]
3. Very important.^[2]
4. Very remarkable; of persons, very eminent.^[2][6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press