pervinca

Forms

pervinca f (genitive pervincae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + vinciō (“to bind”) according to Wiktionary and Köbler;^[1][2] Etymonline gives this only as a possibility.^[3] The TLL notes that the older double form may have arisen from a magical formula, as Ernout explained it, and that a connection with pervincō (“to overcome completely”) may have crept in.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder gives the plant the double name vicapervica and says that it is always green;^[4][5] he also prescribes it, dried and pounded, for dropsy.^[4]

Semantic evolution

The double form vincapervinca appears again in Marcellus Empiricus, and Pseudo-Apuleius says that the Italians call the plant so.^[4][5] Gaffiot and Köbler find the single form pervinca in Pseudo-Apuleius,^[5][2] and the TLL infers it from glosses and the Romance languages: Italian pervinca, French pervenche, Catalan and Old Spanish forms.^[4]

Medieval herbals and glossaries in England give it with English equivalents such as pervenke and pervynke, for staunching blood.^[6] Old English borrowed it as perwince, the source of English periwinkle.^[3]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names the plant vicapervica.^[4][2]
• end of 4th century AD – Pseudo-Apuleius has pervinca.^[5][2]
• c. 1500 – English periwinkle, from Middle English pervinkle.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) The periwinkle, a trailing evergreen plant (Vinca).^[1][6][5]

Related words

• vinciō
• English periwinkle

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press