Etymologically
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caedes

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkae̯.deːs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈt͡ʃɛː.des][1]

Forms

caedēs f (genitive caedis); third declension[1] Livy has a nominative caedis.[2] The genitive plural is usually caedium;[3] Silius and Ammianus have caedum.[3]

Etymology

It is formed from caedō “to cut, strike, kill”.[2][1][4] De Vaan derives the verb from Proto-Italic *kaid-e/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂eyd- (“to cut, hew”); Albanian qeth (“to shave”) may be related.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cato.[4] Cicero speaks of force sine caede, sine volnerātiōne, sine sanguine, “without killing, wounding or bloodshed”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Caedēs is killing, slaughter, massacre and murder, and the killing of animals, especially in sacrifice.[2][1][6] By metonymy it means the corpses of the slain and the blood shed, gore.[2][1] The older sense of the verb survives in “a cutting down” (of wood or hair) and, in law, “a beating”.[2][1]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – First found in Cato.[4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero: sine caede, sine volnerātiōne.[2][4]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of gore: Polyxeniā madefient caede sepulcra, “the tomb will be wet with Polyxena's blood”.[2][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of sacrifice: multā caede bidentium.[2][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus: plēnae caedibus viae, “roads full of corpses”.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Killing, slaughter, massacre, murder.[2][3][1][6]
  2. The slaughter of animals (in sacrifice).[2]
  3. The bodies of the slain.[2][1]
  4. Blood, gore.[2][1]
  5. A cutting down, lopping.[2][1]
  6. A beating.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson