pernicitas

Forms

pernīcitās f (genitive pernīcitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pernīx (“swift, agile”) + -tās.^[1][2][3] De Vaan derives pernīx from perna (“haunch, leg”), though one would rather expect ⟨*pernāx⟩, since no other etymology offers itself.^[4] He traces perna to Proto-Italic *persnā- and Proto-Indo-European *tspērsn-h₂- (“heel”), cognate with Ancient Greek πτέρνη (ptérnē, “heel”) and Sanskrit पार्ष्णि (pā́rṣṇi-, “heel”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first,^[3] in the Menaechmi: “my nimbleness deserts me, I am overgrown with old age”.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is quickness of movement, especially in running.^[1] Cicero sets nimbleness beside speed, pernīcitās et vēlōcitās, and Livy speaks of swiftness of feet.^[5][6] Caesar also has it,^[5] Tacitus uses it of horses, and Gellius of people running in leaps with the liveliest nimbleness.^[5] Apuleius opposes it to lameness.^[6] Isidore says that pernīcitās belongs to the feet as swiftness belongs to wings.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, of nimbleness lost in old age.^[5][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, beside speed.^[5][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of swiftness of feet.^[5][3]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus, of horses.^[5][3]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore, of the swiftness of feet.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Quickness of movement, especially in running; nimbleness, agility, swiftness.^[1][5][6]

Related words

• pernīx
• perna
• vēlōcitās

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes citus and celer, swiftness as mere quick motion, from vēlōx and pernīx, nimbleness as bodily strength and activity.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper