persevero

Forms

persevērō (present infinitive persevērāre, perfect active persevērāvī, supine persevērātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from per- (“thoroughly”) and sevērus (“strict, serious”) with the verb ending -ō, or from an adjective persevērus (“very strict”).^[2][1] The TLL suggests a lost verb ⟨*sevērāre⟩ “to be firm, steadfast”, which would explain both this verb and assevērō (“to assert”), before the adjective came to mean harsh.^[3] De Vaan traces ⟨sevērus⟩ to Proto-Italic *seχwēro- (“steadfast”) and Proto-Indo-European *seǵʰ-ur- (“holding”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἐχυρός (ekhurós, “strong, secure”); he rejects Walde–Hofmann's compound of ⟨*swe-⟩ “apart” and vērus (“true”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero, De inventione: men would not persist so much in their vices (in vitiīs persevērārent).^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to persist resolutely in a course of action, with in and the ablative, an infinitive or an accusative, and to insist that something is so, as Orestes kept insisting that he was Orestes (Cicero).^[2] Of adverse conditions it is to keep on, as a discharge persists (Celsus), and of motion to press on, as one ship kept on its course against orders (Caesar).^[2] With less effort implied it is simply to continue in a state, as all of a family kept the same surname (Suetonius).^[2] Lewis & Short give persistō and permaneō as synonyms.^[5]

Church Latin glosses it “persevere, persist, continue, remain constant”.^[6] English persevere dates from the late 14th century, from Old French and Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of persisting in vices and in an assertion.^[2][8]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of a ship keeping on its course.^[2][8]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of continuing in a name.^[2][8]
• late 14th century – English persevere.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To persist, persevere, continue resolutely (in).^[2][1][6]
2. To insist (that).^[2]
3. (of conditions) To keep on, persist.^[2]
4. To press on (on one's way).^[2]
5. To continue, remain (in a state).^[2][6]

Related words

• sevērus
• assevērō
• English persevere

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de