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pertergeo

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word pertergeo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Latin tergeō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin tergeo
Latin pertergeo
From the same root
Latin abstergeo ← tergeo
Latin detergeo ← tergeo
Latin extergeo ← tergeo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈtɛr.ɡe.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈtɛr.d͡ʒe.o][1]

Forms

pertergeō (present infinitive pertergēre, perfect active pertersī, supine pertersum); second conjugation[1] A third-conjugation present pertergō is found in Chiron and Vegetius.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + tergeō (“to rub, wipe off”).[4][1][2][5] De Vaan reconstructs the simple verb as Proto-Italic *terg- and finds no certain cognates outside Italic.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucretius, who says that the air passing through the eyes as it were brushes the pupils: quasi perterget pupillās.[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Lucretius uses it of air and light lightly brushing the eyes,[4][3] a sense the TLL explains as the air seeming to clean the eyes as it passes.[2] Its usual sense was to wipe all over or wipe dry: Horace tells of the table being wiped with a purple cloth, where the TLL notes that Lucilius had used the simple tersit;[4][2] Columella uses it of wiping vessels with a sponge,[3][7] and Valerius Maximus of people who dreamt that some god was wiping their bodies with a sponge.[4][8]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of air brushing the pupils of the eyes.[4][9]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of wiping a table.[4][9]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of wiping vessels with a sponge.[3][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To wipe all over, wipe dry, clean thoroughly.[4][3][8]
  2. To brush against, touch lightly.[4][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Pertergeo.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/pertergeo. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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