Etymologically
Log in

perturbatus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 02:18. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

perturbātus (feminine perturbāta, neuter perturbātum; comparative perturbātior, superlative perturbātissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin perturbō (“to throw into confusion”).[1][2][3] De Vaan lists perturbō among the derivatives of turba (“turmoil, crowd”), whose further origin he finds uncertain.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotation in the OLD is Terence, in whom a man goes home sad and almost troubled and uncertain in mind.[1] Köbler dates it from Cicero.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is disorderly, confused: Cicero speaks of a speech so jumbled that nothing comes first or second.[1] Of weather it is wild: Cicero is held up by a very stormy equinox.[1] Of affairs it is troubled, as in Cicero's troubled times of a shaken state.[1] Of the mind it is agitated, uneasy, perturbed.[1][2]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of a troubled mind.[1][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a confused speech, stormy weather and troubled times.[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Disorderly, confused, muddled; of weather, wild; of affairs, troubled.[1][2]
  2. Agitated in mind, uneasy, perturbed.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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