SARAH: Perch derives from the latin word pertica which meant a rod or a pole used as a support or as a unit of measurement.

RALPH: Much later it came to refer to a rod used as a resting place for domesticated hawks.

SARAH: Thus, the verb, to perch, eventually took on its modern meaning, as in “a bird perches on a high branch.” Or by extension, anything that occupies an elevated position can be said to “perch.”

RALPH: Here, Shakespeare is inventing the word “overperch” to describe Romeo flying, with love’s light wings, to the top of the garden wall, and then down to the other side.