perpetuus

From per- +‎ petō +‎ -uus. Compare perpes.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /perˈpe.tu.us/, [pɛrˈpɛt̪uʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /perˈpe.tu.us/, [perˈpɛːt̪uːs]

perpetuus (feminine perpetua, neuter perpetuum, comparative perpetuior, superlative perpetuissimus, adverb perpetuē or perpetuō); first/second-declension adjective

1. perpetual, everlasting, continuous, uninterrupted, constant, incessant, unbroken

   Synonyms: aeternus, perennis, assiduus, continuātus, diuturnus, continuus

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 1.2–4:

     […] dī, coeptīs (nam vōs mūtāstis et illa)
     adspīrāte meīs prīmāque ab orīgine mundī
     ad mea perpetuum dēdūcite tempora carmen!

     O gods, favor my undertakings (for you have changed them too), and lead my uninterrupted song down from the first origin of the world to my times!

2. ablative of time: a duration of time, an entirety, all throughout
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.32:

     “[...] sōlāne perpetuā maerēns carpēre iuventā, [...].”

     “[...] [will you] waste away alone, sorrowful all throughout your youth, [...]?”
     (carpēre = carpēris)

First/second-declension adjective.

• “perpĕtŭus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• PERPETUUS in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “perpetuus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • for ever: in perpetuum
    
  • a continuous discourse: oratio perpetua
    
  • current expenses: sumptus perpetui (Off. 2. 12. 42)
    
  • simple interests: perpetuum fenus (Att. 5. 21. 13)
    
  • the standing commissions of inquiry: quaestiones perpetuae (Brut. 27. 106)
    
  • to say once for all: ut semel or in perpetuum dicam
    
• perpĕtŭus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, pages 1,156–1,157.
• “perpetuus” on page 1,351 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (1st ed., 1968–82)
• perpetuus in Ramminger, Johann (2024 December 11 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016