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concisus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word concisus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC Cicero, De oratore More words from the 1st century BC
Ultimate origin
Latin concīdō#2
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin cadō
Latin concidō
Latin concīsus
English concise
From the same root
Latin accidō ← cadō
Latin cadāver ← cadō
Latin cadūcus ← cadō
Latin cāsus ← cadō
Latin dēcidō ← cadō
Latin excidō ← cadō
Latin incidō ← cadō
Latin intercidō ← cadō
Latin occidō ← cadō
Latin prōcidō ← cadō
Latin recidō ← cadō
Latin stīllicidium ← cadō
Latin succidō ← cadō

Forms

concīsus (feminine concīsa, neuter concīsum); first/second-declension adjective; comparative concīsior.[1][2]

Etymology

It is the past participle from Latin concīdō2 (“to cut up”), used as an adjective.[1][2] The verb is formed from con-, here perhaps intensive, and caedō (“to cut”).[3] The simple verb goes back to Proto-Italic *kaid-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *keh₂id- (“to cut, hew”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it of speech that is broken up and cut short: in the De oratore the Greeks are said to be tied up in narrow, chopped-up disputations (angustis et concisis disputationibus).[1][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was above all a term of style: Cicero praised distincte concisa brevitas, brevity in short but clear clauses,[2][5] and Quintilian set the concisa kind of speech against the continuous kind and spoke of “those short and broken phrases”.[5][2] Cicero could also call an orator himself concisus.[5][1] Pliny the Elder used it for a reckoning that is minute and over-detailed, and it could mean simply very small.[1] In the Vulgate the comparative concisior describes the shorter, broken blast of a trumpet.[5]

The word was glossed in Old High German,[6] and it is the source of English concise (1580s)[3] and German konzis.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of chopped-up, terse disputations and of a concise style.[1][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder calls a reckoning of eight further winds too subtle and minute.[1][6]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian contrasts concisa with continuous speech.[5][6]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses concisior of a trumpet blast.[5][6]
  • 1580s – English borrows it as concise.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (of speech or style) Broken up, cut short; terse, concise; also of an orator.[1][5][2]
  2. Minute, detailed; also very small.[1]
  3. (of a sound) Short and broken.[5]

Usage notes

The Oxford Latin Dictionary treats it as the participle of concīdō “cut up” used in that verb's senses, especially of style;[1] it is not connected with concīdō “fall down”.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  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 g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Concisus.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/concisus. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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