pervolito

Forms

pervolitō (present infinitive pervolitāre, perfect active pervolitāvī, supine pervolitātum); first conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin per- + volitō (“to fly about”).^[1][3] The verb volitō is a frequentative of volō² (“to fly”),^[4] which de Vaan tentatively derives from Proto-Italic *gʷela-je/o- and Proto-Indo-European *gʷelh₁-ie/o- (“to raise the arm, throw”), assuming a shift of meaning in connection with birds;^[4] Walde and Hofmann rejected this link.^[4] Cognate, if the connection holds, with Ancient Greek βάλλω (bállō, “to throw”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first examples are in Lucretius,^[3] who speaks of many birds flitting through the pathless woods and of voices that fly through the stone walls of houses: per dissaepta domōrum saxea vōcēs pervolitant.^[3][1]

Semantic evolution

It means to fly repeatedly through or about a place, and poets often use it where pervolāre would be expected.^[3] Virgil has light reflected from bronze flit about everything far and wide,^[1][5] Manilius a single spirit flitting through the whole world,^[1] and Valerius Flaccus the Harpies flitting about the house of Phineus.^[3][5] Vitruvius uses it of the heavens turning on their poles and of a planet travelling its path.^[1][2]

In Christian writers it is used of beings in the air: Prudentius reports the Manichaean claim that God flitted through the air without a real body, and Cassian speaks of demons flitting about in it.^[3]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of birds and of voices passing through walls.^[3][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of reflected light.^[1][6]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the heavens and the course of a planet.^[1][6]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of the Manichaean God flitting through the air.^[3][6]
• c. 360–c. 435 AD – Cassian uses it of demons in the air.^[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fly repeatedly through or over, flit about.^[1][5]
2. Of natural forces such as light or sound, to pass through, pervade.^[1][2]
3. Of heavenly bodies, to move swiftly through space; to travel (a path).^[1][5]

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 Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de