Etymologically
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pertinaciter

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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]

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