Etymologically
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persevero

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛr.sɛˈweː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [per.seˈvɛː.ro][1]

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]

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