perverto

Forms

pervertō (present infinitive pervertere, perfect active pervertī, supine perversum); third conjugation^[1] The older spelling is pervortō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + vertō (“to turn”).^[2][1] ⟨vertō⟩ is Proto-Italic *wertō, from Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”), cognate with Sanskrit वर्तते (vártate, “turns”) and Russian вертеть (vertetʹ, “to rotate”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius' Annals have the felling of trees: “they overturn the tall pines”.^[2][3] In Plautus' Stichus a man is told to knock down even the king if he stands in the way.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means “to overturn, knock down”, things and people, and to overthrow an army or city by force, as in Cicero's verse on Croesus crossing the Halys.^[2] Figuratively it is to ruin a person, as Plautus' “a man can be quickly ruined”, and to overthrow a system or plan.^[2][1] It also means to turn about or reverse, to distort the face (Celsus), to falsify facts and accounts (Lucilius), and to divert to an improper use or lead astray, as Cicero's Verres turning the revenues of the Roman people to his own profit.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “turn around, turn about”.^[5]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of felled pines.^[2][6]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of knocking down a king and ruining a man.^[2][6]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of falsified accounts.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of diverted revenues.^[2][6]
• late 14th century – English pervert comes from it, first “turn someone from a right belief”.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To overturn, knock down; to overthrow by force.^[2][3][1]
2. To ruin; to subvert, bring to nothing.^[2][1]
3. To turn about, reverse.^[2][5]
4. To distort; to falsify; to misuse; to corrupt.^[2][1]

Related words

• vertō
• perversus
• English pervert

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com