Etymologically
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persaepe

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Forms

persaepe (not comparable)[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- (“very”) + saepe (“often”).[2][1] De Vaan derives saepe from the noun saepēs (“hedge, fence”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *saip-i- and Proto-Indo-European *seh₂-i- (“to tie”).[3] He explains the intensive per- of adjectives and adverbs as modelled on verbs in which the prefix means thoroughly.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it split by an oath in the Casina: “by Pollux, you very often go wrong”.[4] Köbler dates it from Cicero.[5]

Semantic evolution

It means very often, as Cicero's “which happens very often” and his remark that the brow, eyes and face very often lie.[4] Horace uses it in the Satires and the Ars Poetica.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in tmesis with an oath.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the face that often lies.[4][5]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace in the Satires.[4][5]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Very often, very frequently.[2][4][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de