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perseverus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word perseverus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
98–115 Tacitus, Annals More words from the 1st century
Ultimate origin
Latin sevērus
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin sevērus
Latin persevērus
From the same root
English severe ← sevērus
Latin persevērō ← sevērus
Latin severe ← sevērus
Latin sevēritās ← sevērus

Forms

persevērus (feminine persevēra, neuter persevērum); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin per- + sevērus (“strict, severe”), with the intensifying prefix.[1][3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its only Classical instance is in Tacitus' Annals (15.48), of supreme power that some would have neither restricted nor too severe.[1][2][3] The manuscripts have pre- there, and some editors print prae-.[3]

Semantic evolution

The adjective stayed very rare: the TLL adds only a passage in the preface of Damigeron's lapidary.[3] An adverb persevērē, “very strictly”, appears in a letter of Pliny the Younger, of making an inquiry.[2]

Timeline

  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of supreme power in the Annals.[1][3][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Very strict or severe.[1][2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Perseverus.” Etymologically, 8 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/perseverus. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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