calco

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkaɫ.koː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkal.ko]^[1]

Forms

calcō (present infinitive calcāre, perfect active calcāvī, supine calcātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from calx “heel” with the verbal suffix -ō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Cato, of crushing by treading.^[2] Köbler dates Cato 234–149 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to trample or ram down earth, as in Vitruvius, to press by treading into a container, as in Varro, to tread grapes, as in Ovid, and to work a treadmill.^[2][5] It meant to tread on, set foot on, as Varro's grass not to be trodden, viam calcāre “to tread a path”, to crush underfoot, as in Cato, and to trample bodies in battle, as in Virgil.^[2][5] Figuratively it meant to trample on insolently, spurn, make light of, as in Propertius, Ovid and Seneca.^[2] Columella uses it of a cock treading a hen.^[2] Lewis and Short call it mostly poetic or post-Augustan.^[3]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to trample on, tread on.^[6] It survives in Italian calcare and Romanian călca.^[1] French calquer “to trace”, borrowed from Italian, gave English calque in 1937.^[7][1]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of crushing underfoot.^[2][4]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of treading into a container.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of trampling in battle.^[2][4]
• 1937 – English calque is recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tread, trample; to ram down.^[2]
2. To tread (grapes).^[2]
3. To tread on, set foot on.^[2]
4. To crush underfoot.^[2]
5. To spurn, trample on.^[2]

Word family

• calcātor
• calcātōrium
• calcātrīx
• calcātūra
• calcātus
• circumcalcō
• conculcō
• dēculcō
• exculcō
• incalcatus
• incalcō
• inculcō

Related words

• calceus
• calcitrō
• calx
• calceō
• English calque

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com