Language Of Confusion: Per-, Part VII

We’re still doing this? Yes, it seems so, as there are many more words that come from the Proto Indo European per-, forward. It’s long past time for these to start getting weird.
 
First, a word that at least has per- in it. Impervious showed up in the mid seventeenth century from the classical Latin impervius, which, you know, just means impervious. The in- means not or opposite of here, and pervius means accessible or allowing things to pass through. If you break it down further, the per- is from per-, while the -vius is from via, road or way. Impervious is not passing through.
 
There’s also reciprocal, which has pro- in it so is obviously related. It showed up in the later sixteenth century from the classical Latin reciprocus, another word we need to break down. Re- means back, and -cus was stuck at the end to make it an adjective, then procus, which is pro (forward) and another -cus. Reciprocal is forward and back. Hm, these aren’t as weird as I thought.
 
Okay, former has to be weird. It showed up in the mid twelfth century from the Old English forma, which actually means first. That’s from the Proto Germanic fruma/furma, which is then from the Proto Indo European pre-mo-, from per-. Since one of per-’s definitions is first, former is first. Damn, that’s not weird at all.
 
Well, profane should be fun. It showed up as a verb in the late fourteenth century and an adjective in the mid fifteenth. It’s from the Old French profaner/prophaner and classical Latin profanare, to desecrate. Obviously the pro- comes from per- and means before, but the rest? That’s from the Latin fanum, temple or sanctuary. So profane is… before a temple. Well, at least this one’s weird.
 
Sources
Online Etymology Dictionary
Google Translate
Omniglot
University of Texas at Austin Linguistic Research Center
University of Texas at San Antonio’s page on Proto Indo European language
Tony Jebson’s page on the Origins of Old English
Old English-English Dictionary