Etymologically
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perraro

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Forms

perrārō (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + rārō (“seldom”),[2] or, as Georges and Köbler have it, the adverb of perrārus (“very rare”).[3][4] rārō is the adverb of rārus (“thin, rare”), whose origin de Vaan leaves open: links with Proto-Indo-European *h₂erH- (“to disappear, perish”) and with Ancient Greek ἐρῆμος (erêmos, “lonely”) have been proposed, and Schrijver is critical of all of them.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Georges cites it first from the Rhetorica ad Herennium,[3][4] and Cicero has id quod perraro evenit, “a thing that very rarely happens”.[6]

Semantic evolution

It keeps the one sense “very rarely”, in Cicero, Horace and later writers.[3][6] Medieval British writers use it too: Alcuin writes te perraro oculis vidi meis, “I have very rarely seen you with my own eyes”, it occurs in Lanfranc's letters and in Gerald of Wales, and a council of 1258 sets sins that commonly happen against those that happen very rarely.[7]

Timeline

  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a thing that very rarely happens.[6][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the Satires.[6][4]
  • 1258 – A council uses it of sins that happen very rarely.[7]
  • 1279 – Archbishop Peckham uses it in a letter.[7]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Very seldom, extremely rarely.[2][3][6]

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c 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