Etymologically
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perpetro

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛr.pɛ.troː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛr.pe.tro][1]

Forms

perpetrō (present infinitive perpetrāre, perfect active perpetrāvī, supine perpetrātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + patrō (“to bring about, accomplish”).[2][3][1] Etymonline connects patrō with pater (“father”), from an original sense "bring into being".[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Plautus' Casina: "why should I not finish what I have begun?"[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to carry a task through, to complete or perform;[2][5] Lewis & Short find it mostly before and after the classical period, never in Cicero or Caesar.[5] Festus explains it by peragit and perficit.[5] Livy uses it of a murder carried out against a brother and planned against a father, and Tacitus of promises fulfilled and, with ut, of bringing it about that the people of Ilium were freed from public burdens.[2] From this comes the sense to commit, perpetrate.[1][5] Later writers, among them Lucifer of Cagliari and Gregory of Tours, also use it as a deponent.[3] English took perpetrate from its participle in the 1540s.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of finishing what was begun.[2]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a murder carried out.[2]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of fulfilling promises.[2]
  • 1540s – English perpetrate.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To carry through, complete, accomplish.[2][5][1][6]
  2. To carry out, execute, perform; to fulfil (a promise); to bring it about (that).[2][1]
  3. To commit, perpetrate (a crime).[1][5]

Word family

  • perpetrabilis
  • perpetratio
  • perpetrator

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 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 c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson