pertica Latin · revision 3490

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=Plautus|origins=itc-pro *pertikā-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pertica''' ''f'' (genitive perticae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is perhaps [[inh|itc-pro|*pertikā-]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Its further origin is unknown: connections with [[grc|πτόρθος|tr=ptórthos|t=sprout]] and [[sa|कपृथ्|tr=kápṛth|t=penis]] have been proposed, but de Vaan finds neither convincing.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ Compare [[osc|perek|t=a measure of length]], which may be cognate or borrowed from Latin, and [[xum|perca|t=rod, badge]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is found from Plautus onwards,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) where someone wants a stick to beat the donkeys.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was a long pole or staff, or a straight shoot cut from a tree, used for laying in furrows, propping vines, beating olives from the trees, and as a perch in an aviary.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) From this it became a surveyor's measuring rod, the Roman rod of ten feet, and the land measured with it and assigned to a colony.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Isidore of Seville derived it from ''portare'', “to carry”, because unlike the other measures it is carried rather than part of the body.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010) Through Old French ''perche'' it gave English ''perch'', a pole and a measure of length, in the late 13th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a stick for beating donkeys.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of rods laid in furrows.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of perches in an aviary.^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * late 13th century – English ''perch'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|pole]], long staff, rod; a shoot.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A surveyor's measuring [[m|en|rod]]; the Roman rod of ten feet.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The land measured out and assigned to a colony.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[perticālis]]

+ * [[perticārius]]

+ * [[perticātus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|perch]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Pliny the Younger's ''una pertica'', “with one rod”, meant treating everyone the same way.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}