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permultus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word permultus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Italic (*molto-)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈmʊɫ.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈmul.tus][1]

Forms

permultus (feminine permulta, neuter permultum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is formed from the intensive per- (“very”) and multus (“much, many”);[2][3][1] Wiktionary sets up Proto-Italic *perimoltos.[1] De Vaan derives ⟨multus⟩ from *molto-, perhaps Proto-Indo-European *m(o)l-to- (“good, big”), and compares Ancient Greek μάλα (mála, “very”); he finds the root etymology weak.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is its first author in the OLD, with the neuter haud permultum attulit, “he brought not so very much”, in the Bacchides;[2][5][6] Köbler gives Cicero.[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The neuter singular is “a great deal”, as Cicero's “a great deal will have been taken from your grief”, and the ablative with a comparative is “by far”.[2][5] With a plural noun it is “very many”, as Varro's many parts of the earth, Cicero's imitators and Caesar's hills.[2][5] Church Latin glosses it “very many, very much”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has haud permultum.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of many parts.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (neuter singular) A great deal, very much;[2][5] permultō (with a comparative), by far.[2][5]
  2. (plural) A great many, very many.[2][5][7]

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 j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Permultus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/permultus. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

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