Penetracioun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of forcing a way into or through a solid body or surface ; the quality of grasping a matter deeply through keen insight
2. Entry into or passage through something by piercing it ; the capacity to see clearly into the hidden nature of a thing
3. A boring or passing inward through a substance ; a sharp and searching grasp of what lies beneath the surface of an issue

Etymology: "Penetracioun" is a Middle English spelling of a word that came into English from Latin "penetratio", a noun formed from the verb "penetrare" meaning "to enter into, to pierce, to get inside." That verb itself derives from "penetralis", meaning "inward" or "innermost," which is rooted in "penitus", "deep within." So the word's core idea is going deep into something, not simply striking its surface. The spelling reflects the Middle English pattern of the period, when Latin nouns in "-tio" were adapted with the "-cioun" ending, as in "nacioun" (nation) and "devocioun" (devotion). Chaucer-era and later writers used such forms, and the word appears in the late 1300s and 1400s in senses of physically entering a place or substance and of spiritually or intellectually piercing a matter. Modern English dropped the old spelling and settled on "penetration" in the 1500s and after, so "penetracioun" survives mainly in older texts and in scholarly discussion of Middle English spelling.