persona

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [pɛrˈsoː.na]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [perˈsɔː.na]^[1]

Forms

persōna f (genitive persōnae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

Its origin is unknown.^[1] The OLD calls it perhaps Etruscan, and the TLL a foreign word, since it can hardly be explained in Latin, usually connected for its first sense “mask” with borrowed from Etruscan 𐌘𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌖 (φersu, “mask, masked figure”), twice written beside a masked figure.^[2][3][1] Gabius Bassus, in Gellius, derived it from personō “to sound through”, with a lengthened vowel.^[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Plautus, whom he dates c. 250–184 BC.^[6] The OLD's earliest citation for a mask is from Lucretius.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant a mask, especially an actor's, which Cicero says the actor's eyes blazed through, in Pliny the Elder a mouth guard and a stone face, a gargoyle.^[2][5] From Cicero it meant a character in a play, persōna mūta a mute part, a character in a speech or dialogue, and in Seneca a pretence.^[2] In Cicero it meant the part one plays in life, a role, one's own personality, a party to a case, a person of rank, and an individual person.^[2] In Varro it meant a grammatical person.^[2] Döderlein contrasts the artful persōna with the frightful larva.^[7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a person, character, mask, and a person of the Trinity.^[8] Medieval Latin used it for an individual, a person of servile status, and a dignitary, a parson.^[9][6] It survives in Italian persona and French personne, and Late Latin persōnālis gave English personal in the late 14th century.^[1][10]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a grammatical person.^[2][6]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of a mask.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a role and of a person.^[2][6]
• late 14th century – English personal is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A mask; a gargoyle.^[2]
2. A character in a play; a mute part; a pretence.^[2]
3. A role in life; personal qualities.^[2]
4. One's own self, personality, suā persōnā, in one's own name.^[2]
5. A party to a case; a personage.^[2]
6. An individual person.^[2]
7. (grammar) A person.^[2]
8. (Medieval Latin) A dignitary; a parson.^[9][6]

Word family

• persolla
• persōnālis
• personatiue
• persōnātus
• persōnīna

Related words

• English person
• English personal
• English parson

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from larva, a grotesque, frightful mask.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p 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. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com