assultus

Forms

assultus m (genitive assultūs); fourth declension^[1] It is also spelled adsultus, with the prefix unassimilated.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin assiliō (“to leap at, assault”) + -tus, a noun of action.^[2][1] The verb is formed from ad- and saliō¹ (“to jump”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Virgil is the first to use it, in the Aeneid, for the varied assaults with which an attacker presses a place.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it is a literary word, found mainly in the ablative;^[3][5] Tacitus pairs attacks with speed of movement, and Ammianus Marcellinus has it often for sudden or repeated attacks.^[3][5]

In Medieval Latin it became the usual word for an armed attack, on a person, a building or a town;^[6][7] it also took the legal sense of a violent attack on someone's house or a raid for plunder,^[7][8] and Du Cange equates it with French assaut.^[8] A form assaltus appears, mainly in Italy.^[7] The English word assault comes through Old French from a Vulgar Latin *adsaltus, formed on saltus rather than on this word.^[9]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the Aeneid for the attacks on a place.^[3][5][10]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it for the charges of troops.^[3][10]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it often for sudden attacks.^[5][10]
• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours uses it.^[10]
• 1130 – An English pipe roll records an attack on ships and houses in London.^[6]
• 1194 – A charter of Philip Augustus fines the attack on a house.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A leaping at, an assault, charge, attack.^[2][3][5]
2. (Medieval Latin, military) An assault on a town or building.^[6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin, law) A violent attack on a person or house, a raid for plunder.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A leap, spring.^[7]

Related words

• saltus¹
• English assault

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de