perpetior

Forms

perpetior (present infinitive perpetī, perfect active perpessus sum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from per- (“thoroughly”) and patior (“to suffer”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *pati- for ⟨patior⟩ but finds its origin unclear: it may belong with Ancient Greek πῆμα (pêma, “suffering”) from a root Proto-Indo-European *peh₁-, or with *pet- (“to fly, fall”), “it befalls me”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first examples are from Plautus, as the Mercator: “I will endure the rain, I will bear the toil”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to undergo hardship or suffering to the full, as in Plautus, and to put up with or tolerate something to the end, as in the Menaechmi, “I cannot stand these outrages”.^[2][3] Plautus already sets it beside the simple verb, as the sick mind that “can neither suffer nor endure”.^[3]

Church Latin glosses it “endure, undergo, suffer”.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of enduring rain and toil.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To endure, undergo (hardships) to the full.^[2][1][5]
2. To put up with, tolerate (to the end).^[2][1]

Word family

• perpessīcius
• perpessiō

Related words

• patior
• perferō
• tolerō

Usage notes

Döderlein says that ferō refers only to the burden borne, while tolerō, perferō, patior and perpetior imply the strength or patience of the bearer.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper