perscrutor

Forms

perscrūtor (present infinitive perscrūtārī, perfect active perscrūtātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1] An active perscrūtō is found in Plautus and in later texts.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + scrūtor (“to search, examine”).^[5][1][2] scrūtor is derived from scrūta (“discarded goods, trifles”),^[6][1] the original sense being to search through rubbish.^[1] De Vaan rejects a borrowing of that noun from Ancient Greek γρύτη (grútē, “woman's dressing-case, tool-bag, frippery”), and finds its further origin uncertain: only words in the Germanic languages match it, such as Old High German scrutōn (“to investigate”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[2][7] of searching a place thoroughly,^[4] and in the Miles Gloriosus of looking into a question: perscrutari hoc volo, “I want to look into this”.^[8]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of dogs that tracked down and searched everything, of searching women's little boxes, and of examining the letter of a law,^[3][8] and Livy of searching all parts of a camp.^[8][4] Figuratively it means to investigate thoroughly: Cicero has perscrutamini penitus naturam rationemque criminum, “examine closely the nature and grounds of the charges”, and Seneca quid antiqua perscrutor?, “why do I search into old things?”^[4][8] The perfect participle is used in a passive sense in Ammianus, the Codex Iustinianus and Augustine,^[8][2] and Ecclesiastical Latin keeps the senses “search through, investigate”.^[9] It was borrowed as Italian perscrutare, Portuguese perscrutar and English perscrutate;^[1] Spanish pescudar continues it.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of searching and of looking into a question.^[2][8][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of searching things and of investigating charges.^[3][4][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of searching a camp.^[8][7]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of searching into the past.^[8][4][7]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses the participle in a passive sense.^[3][8][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To search a place thoroughly for something hidden, search high and low.^[5][3]
2. (figurative) To investigate, examine carefully.^[5][3][8]

Related words

• scrūtor
• English perscrutate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson