Etymologically
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pertracto

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈtrak.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈtrak.to][1]

Forms

pertractō (present infinitive pertractāre, perfect active pertractāvī, supine pertractātum); first conjugation[1] The spelling pertrectō is also transmitted, for instance in manuscripts of Apuleius.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + tractō (“to drag about, handle”).[2][3][1] De Vaan explains tractō as formed from tractus, the past participle of trahō (“to draw, drag”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *traχe/o-; he finds its closest cognates in Celtic.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[2][5] in the sense of stroking or fingering something all over: in the Asinaria the phrase is si papillam pertractavit, “if he has fondled a breast”.[2]

Semantic evolution

From physical handling the verb passed to the mind: Cicero uses it of an orator who works upon the feelings and minds of his hearers, and of examining an opponent’s narrative carefully and in detail.[2] In the De finibus he speaks of sounding out someone’s mind with every kind of reflection, and it came to mean studying or treating a subject thoroughly.[6][7] Ecclesiastical Latin kept the senses of handling, treating, busying oneself with and investigating.[8]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of fondling.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of working upon the minds of an audience and of examining a narrative in detail.[2][5]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of feeling a person’s hand, as a physician does.[9][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To stroke or finger all over, to feel, handle.[2][10]
  2. (figurative) To work upon (the mind or feelings).[2][7]
  3. To examine in detail, study carefully, treat thoroughly.[2][6][8]

Word family

  • pertractātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press