combustio

Forms

combustiō f (genitive combustiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin combūrō + -tiō, a noun of action, “a burning”.^[1][2][3] combūrō (“to burn up”) arose, according to de Vaan, through a wrong division of ambūrō (“to burn around”) as ⟨am-būrō⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL calls it a word of later Latin, read from the Old Latin Bible on, of things given over to burning.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It names the act of burning, the thing burnt, or the fire itself.^[3] Firmicus Maternus has it in his astrology,^[2][5] and the Vulgate uses it in Isaiah, Jeremiah and Hebrews of what is fit only for burning.^[3] In Medieval Latin it also meant branding with a hot iron, the crime of arson and the burning of lime.^[6]

Timeline

• 334–337 AD – Firmicus Maternus uses it.^[2][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of things given to the fire.^[3][5]
• early 15th century – English borrows it, from Old French and Latin, as combustion.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A burning, combustion.^[2][8][3]
2. (Late Latin) Something burnt; a fire.^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) Branding with a red-hot iron.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Arson.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin) The burning of lime.^[6]

Related words

• combūrō
• English combustion

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson