pervicax Latin · revision 34049

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=190–159 BC, Terence|origins=ine-pro *ui-n-k-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpɛr.wɪ.kaːks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛr.vi.kaks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pervicāx''' (genitive pervicācis, adverb pervicāciter); third-declension one-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|per-|vincō|-āx|t2=to conquer]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(de Vaan 2008) The TLL notes that [[m|la|pervicus]] and this adjective lack the idea of conquering, keeping an older sense of the root, “to contend, strive”.^(TLL) De Vaan traces [[m|la|vincō]] to [[itc-pro|*wink-|t=to tie, bind; to overcome]] and [[ine-pro|*ui-n-k-|t=to bend, tie]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Terence,^(de Vaan 2008) in whose ''Hecyra'' a speaker asks whether someone was so obstinate as to prefer a child's death to a marriage made against their wish.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means persisting against opposition, determined, as Horace's persistent Thyiads; of conditions it is unremitting, as a disaster in Seneca's ''Oedipus'', and of a thing firmly fixed, as the steady balance of a reed in Pliny the Elder.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) More often it is pejorative: obstinate, stubborn, headstrong.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis & Short note that it is not in Cicero or Caesar;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Tacitus uses it often, and in a good sense of a man steadfast in what is right.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Church Latin glosses it stubborn, obstinate.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of obstinacy.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace of persistent Thyiads.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus of steadfastness in the right.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Persisting against opposition, determined, [[m|en|steadfast]]; unremitting; firmly fixed.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # [[m|en|obstinate|alt=Obstinate]], [[m|en|stubborn]], headstrong.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pervicācia]]

+ * [[pervicāciter]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[vinco|alt=vincō]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein derives it, with a query, from [[vinco|alt=vincere]] or [[vigeo|alt=vigēre]], and contrasts ''pervicācia'', persistence grounded in natural energy, with [[pertinacia|alt=pertinācia]], obstinacy as a fault.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}