-fendo

Forms

-fendō (infinitive -fendere, perfect -fendī, supine -fēnsum); third conjugation, found only in compounds^[1][2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *χʷ(e)nd-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰen-dʰ- (“to hit, strike”).^[1] De Vaan derives it from the PIE root present *gʷʰen-, either with a suffix *-d(h)- or, following LIV, by building the whole paradigm on an imperative *gʷʰn̥dʰí (“strike!”).^[1] Wiktionary gives the Proto-Italic form as *fendō, earlier *xʷendō.^[2]

Cognate with Old Irish gonaid (“wounds, kills”), Welsh gwan (“to thrust, hit”), Hittite kue(n)-zi (“to kill”), Sanskrit हन्ति (hánti, “kills”) and Ancient Greek θείνω (theínō, “to strike”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The verb survives only in compounds:^[1][2] dēfendō “to ward off, defend” is in the Twelve Tables, and offendō “to strike against, encounter” and the adjective īnfēnsus “hostile” are found from Plautus on.^[1]

Semantic evolution

De Vaan takes īnfēnsus as evidence for an older verb *in-fendere “to strike into, attack”.^[1] The compounds formed further words: dēfensāre “to protect” in Plautus, dēfensor “defender” from Terence, offensiō “obstacle, offence” from Varro and offensus “collision” from Lucretius.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has offendō and īnfēnsus.^[1][3]
• 190–159 BC – Terence has dēfensor.^[1][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro has offensiō.^[1][3]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius has offensus, “collision”.^[1][3]

Meanings

Verb

1. (found only in compounds) To hit, strike.^[1][2]

Word family

• dēfendō
• offendō
• īnfēnsus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
2. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de