permeo Latin · revision 36910

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la meō}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpɛr.me.oː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpɛr.me.o]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''permeō''' (present infinitive permeāre, perfect active permeāvī, supine permeātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|per-|meō|t2=to go, pass]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan traces [[m|la|meō]] to [[itc-pro|*mejo-]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂mei-o-|t=to exchange]], assuming that a sense “change places” became “go on, proceed” in Latin; he thinks the verb may have been made from a noun meaning “movement, passage”.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[grc|ἀμείβω|tr=ameíbō|t=to exchange, change]] and [[lt|maĩnas|t=exchange]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL records it from Varro on,^(TLL) in a fragment quoted by Nonius that speaks of an evil like gangrene that has spread through all the limbs of the people.^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It means to pass through or across: Columella says ducks are troubled if they lack open spaces to move about in, Pliny the Elder uses it of locusts crossing vast tracts and of rivers flowing through lakes and cities, and Tacitus of the Romans passing through dark forests.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Ovid has a letter of his crossing so many seas and lands.^(OLD 2012) Of a weapon it is to pierce,^(OLD 2012) and Tacitus has spears that carried too far for arrows to match them.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ From Seneca on it is also to pervade: the air permeates what lies in the middle of things, and Apuleius speaks of the belief that a god pervades all things.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) The TLL finds it used most often by Pliny the Elder, Ammianus, Augustine and Martianus Capella.^(TLL) Church Latin kept the senses of going through and crossing.^(Stelten 1995) English took the participle as ''permeate'' in the 1650s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of an evil spreading through the people.^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a letter crossing seas and lands.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of air pervading things.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of a god pervading all things.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1650s – English borrows its participle as [[m|en|permeate]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # ''(intransitive)'' To make one's way across, pass from one side to the other; to [[m|en|penetrate]] (as far as a place).^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(transitive)'' To pass through, [[m|en|traverse]]; of a weapon, to [[m|en|pierce]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To be pervasive; to [[m|en|permeate]], [[m|en|pervade]].^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[permeābilis]]

+ * [[permeator]]

+ * [[permeātus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}