Etymologically
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calco

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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

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