perscribo

Forms

perscrībō (present infinitive perscrībere, perfect active perscrīpsī, supine perscrīptum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + scrībō (“to write”).^[2][3] De Vaan traces ⟨scrībō⟩ to Proto-Italic *skreif-e/o- (“to carve”) and Proto-Indo-European *skreibʰ-e/o- (“to carve”), cognate with Oscan scriftas (“written”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest example is Plautus' Truculentus, of ledgers in which interest payments were entered.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to write out in full, to copy out, as Cicero's request for the sayings of the mime actors, and to put a law or work into writing: Cicero speaks of the ten men who wrote the Twelve Tables.^[2] It is also to write a detailed record, as of the historians who tried to record the deeds of the Romans in Asellio, and to enter transactions in public or account books.^[2] In finance it is to write a draft for a sum instead of paying cash.^[2] Cicero's freedman Tiro uses it of writing a word in full rather than abbreviated.^[2][5]

Church Latin glosses it “write down, notify, relate in writing, register”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of ledger entries.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of writing out laws and copying.^[2][7]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of finishing a work.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To write out in full, copy out.^[2][5][1]
2. To put into writing; to finish writing.^[2]
3. To write a detailed account of; to enter in official or account books, register.^[2][6]
4. To write a draft for a sum.^[2]
5. To write a word in full, without abbreviation.^[2][5]

Word family

• perscrīptiō
• perscriptōr
• perscriptūra

Related words

• scrībō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de