Etymologically
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pervagatus

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Forms

pervagātus (feminine pervagāta, neuter pervagātum, comparative pervagātior, superlative pervagātissimus); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin pervagor (“to wander through, spread”).[2][1][3] That verb is a compound of per- and vagor (“to wander”), from vagus (“roaming”),[4] which de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *wago-.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Cicero,[3] whose De inventione uses the comparative of arguments that apply widely, pervagātior, fitting all or most cases of a kind.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is widely known or familiar: Cicero speaks of everyday, familiar exercises, opera cotīdiāna et pervagāta, of a very well-known verse, pervagātissimus versus, and of rumour and talk spread among the people.[2][6] He often joins it with vulgāris, cotīdiānus or commūnis, and uses the neuter plural for commonplace precepts, ista commūnia et pervagāta.[6][7] The TLL groups it with pervulgātus and commūnis in meaning.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of arguments of wide application and of things widely known.[2][3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Widely known, familiar, commonplace.[2][6]
  2. Of wide application, general.[2][5]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften