persuadeo

Forms

persuādeō (present infinitive persuādēre, perfect active persuāsī, supine persuāsum); second conjugation^[1] Macrobius has the supine persuāsū.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin per- (“thoroughly”) + suādeō (“to advise”).^[3][2][1] De Vaan explains ⟨suādeō⟩ as a causative, “to make sweet, render agreeable”, from which “to recommend” developed; it took its root vowel from the adjective suāvis, from Proto-Italic *swādu- (“sweet”) and Proto-Indo-European *sueh₂d-u-.^[4] Cognates are Sanskrit स्वादु (svādú-, “sweet”), Ancient Greek ἡδύς (hēdús, “sweet, pleasant”) and Old English swōt (“sweet”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Mercator: huic persuādēre quō modō potis siem ut illam vendat, “how I could persuade him to sell her”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

With a dative of the person it means to succeed in urging a course of action, to induce someone to do something, with ut, a subjunctive or an infinitive (Plautus: persuāsumst facere, “I was persuaded to do it”), and to bring someone to believe something, to convince.^[3][1] The passive is impersonal (mihi persuāsum est), and sibi persuādēre is to persuade oneself, believe firmly (Cicero).^[3] A personal object in the accusative is rare and late (Petronius).^[3][5]

Church Latin glosses it “persuade”.^[6] English persuade (1510s) comes from French persuader and Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus with ut and with an infinitive.^[3][8]
• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of a listener convinced.^[3][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: sibi persuādēre.^[3][8]
• 1510s – English borrows it as persuade, through French.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. (with dative) To persuade, induce, prevail upon (to do something).^[3][1][6]
2. (with dative) To convince (of a fact); sibi persuādēre, to be firmly convinced.^[3][1]

Word family

• persuāsibilis
• persuāsiō
• persuasor
• persuāsus

Related words

• cōnsuādeō
• dissuādeō
• suādeō
• suāvis
• English persuade

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c 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 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