Etymologically
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pertinax

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈpɛr.tɪ.naːks][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛr.ti.naks][1]

Forms

pertināx (genitive pertinācis, comparative pertinācior, superlative pertinācissimus, adverb pertināciter); third-declension one-termination adjective[1] The spelling pertenāx has been printed in Plautus, to bring out the link with tenāx.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + teneō (“to hold”) + -āx, an intensive “holding very fast”.[2][3] The Thesaurus notes that its meaning connects it with tenāx (“tenacious”) rather than with pertineō (“to extend, concern”).[4] The verb teneō goes back to Proto-Italic *t(e)nē- and Proto-Indo-European *tn-eh₁- (“to hold”), a stative of Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch”).[5] Cognate with Umbrian tenitu (“let him hold”), Sanskrit तनोति (tanóti, “stretches”) and Ancient Greek τείνω (teínō, “to stretch”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest examples are a pun in Plautus' Captivi, “is his father tight-fisted? – no, extremely tight-fisted”, and Ennius' “win through by stubborn persistence”.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is having a firm grip, as Horace's ring snatched from a finger that holds on badly, and figuratively holding fast to a principle.[2][6] Of persons it is obstinate or stubborn: a character in Accius is willing to be called persistent but not obstinate.[2] Without blame it is doggedly determined, as in Livy's “the Romans admitted they had never fought a more determined enemy”.[2][6] Of conditions it means persistent or lasting, and of an illness hard to cure;[2] Pliny the Elder uses it of a wheat that keeps its character only in the land of the Allobroges.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “obstinate, persistent, firm, constant”.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus puns on it with tenāx.[2][3]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of stubborn persistence.[2][3]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of obstinacy.[2][3]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a determined enemy.[2][3]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of a finger that holds fast.[2][3]
  • 193 AD – Helvius Pertinax becomes emperor.[2]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Holding fast, tenacious; holding firmly to a principle; humorously, very stingy.[2][6][1]
  2. Obstinate, stubborn; without blame, persevering, determined.[2][6][1]
  3. Of actions and attitudes, stubbornly kept up.[2]
  4. Persistent, lasting; of an illness, intractable.[2]

Word family

Usage notes

Pertinax was also the cognomen of Publius Helvius, who succeeded Commodus as emperor in AD 193.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson