Something 'pertinent' holds through to the topic — from Latin 'tenere' (to hold) + 'per-' (through).
Relevant or applicable to a particular matter; appropriate to the situation at hand.
From Old French 'pertinent' (belonging to, relating to, relevant), from Latin 'pertinentem' (belonging to, related to, reaching), present participle of 'pertinēre' (to belong to, to reach to, to extend toward, to pertain), a compound of 'per-' (through, thoroughly, across) + 'tenēre' (to hold, to keep, to maintain), from PIE *ten- (to stretch, to extend, to hold taut). PIE *ten- is the root of tension and connection across the language: Latin 'tenēre' gives 'contain,' 'detain,' 'obtain,' 'retain,' 'sustain,' 'abstain,' 'entertain,' 'maintain,' 'tenacious,' 'tenure,' 'tenant,' 'tense,' 'tend,' and 'tendon' (a stretched sinew). The related PIE form *tn̥- gives Greek 'teinein' (to stretch), 'tone' (stretched string
'Impertinent' originally meant 'not relevant' (not pertaining to the matter) before it shifted to mean 'rude.' The semantic change is revealing: in courtrooms and debates, making irrelevant remarks was considered a form of disrespect, so 'not pertinent' gradually became 'insolently disrespectful.' The rudeness sense had fully overtaken the relevance sense by the eighteenth century.
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