Etymology
Possibly from the same root as patior (“to suffer”); this may be Proto-Indo-European *peh₂-(i)- (“to hurt”), but its standard reconstruction as *peh₁-(i)- (or *peh₁y-[1]) creates phonetic problems for the Latin.[2] So, the etymology is unresolved.
The original meaning was likely “lacking, missing” (> “falling short”), as preserved in the related words paeniteō (“to cause dissatisfaction/regret”) and paenūria (“shortage”).[2]
References
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “paene”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 439
- “paene”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “paene”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- paene in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- graphic depiction: rerum sub aspectum paene subiectio (De Or. 3. 53. 202)
- to almost lose one's reason from excess of joy: nimio gaudio paene desipere
- paene in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
- Julius Pokorny (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, in 3 vols, Bern, München: Francke Verlag