Etymologically
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persuadeo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈsʷaː.de.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈsʷaː.de.o][1]

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

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