pertinaciter

Forms

pertināciter (comparative pertinācius, superlative pertinācissimē)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pertināx (“tenacious, stubborn”) + -ter.^[2][1][3] pertināx is made from per- and tenāx (“tenacious”), from teneō (“to hold”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *t(e)nē- and Proto-Indo-European *tn-eh₁- (“to hold”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro uses it in his work on farming, saying that one should not keep stubbornly to the ox one has trained to the right-hand side.^[2] Köbler dates it from Hirtius.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It means stubbornly, with an obstinate refusal to give way: Plancus, writing to Cicero, fears seeming too stubbornly offended with Lepidus.^[2] It also means persistently, through thick and thin, as in Varro.^[2] Pliny the Elder uses the superlative literally, of quicksilver clinging most tenaciously to gold leaf.^[2]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of keeping stubbornly to one ox.^[2]
• c. 50 BC – Hirtius.^[3]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of quicksilver clinging to gold leaf.^[2]

Meanings

Adverb

1. With a firm hold, tenaciously.^[2]
2. Stubbornly, obstinately, determinedly; persistently.^[2][1]

Related words

• pertinax
• pertinācia
• teneō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill