perparvus

Forms

perparvus (feminine perparva, neuter perparvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + parvus (“small”), with the intensive prefix.^[2][1][3]

parvus goes back to Proto-Italic *pauro- and Proto-Indo-European *peh2u-ro- (or *ph2eu-ro-).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek παῦρος (paûros, “little”), Old Norse fár (“little”) and Old English fēa.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Lucretius,^[3] who uses it of very small seeds.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of a very small and poor city, of a trifling fault and of a petty dispute;^[5] he also says that money, honours, beauty and health count for very little when one has them.^[2][5] Christian writers keep it: Augustine speaks of slight troubles, and Salvian and Cassiodorus use the neuter as a noun.^[6]

In medieval British Latin Bede uses it of the Church, still young and very small, and of a very small book.^[7]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of very small seeds.^[5][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a small city and of things of little value.^[2][5][3]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of slight troubles.^[6][3]
• 1st third of 8th century AD – Bede uses it of the young Church.^[7][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Very small in size or amount, tiny.^[2][5]
2. Of very slight value or importance, trifling.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press