Etymologically

concremo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 19:50. This address is a permanent link to this version.

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔŋ.krɛ.moː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔŋ.kre.mo][1]

Forms

concremō (present infinitive concremāre, perfect active concremāvī, supine concremātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + cremō (“to burn”).[2][3][1] De Vaan thinks cremō is probably a denominative verb, but finds no convincing further connection.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL notes that it is first found in Livy,[3] who uses it of people burnt alive and of houses and cities burnt down.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

The verb meant to burn up completely, to burn down, and also to burn things together.[2] L&S doubts that it was used before the Augustan period,[5] and the TLL observes that among the poets only Seneca's tragedies have it, twice.[3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it keeps the sense “to burn up, consume”.[7]

Timeline

  • 59 BC–AD 17 – Livy uses it of burning people, weapons, houses and cities.[5][3][6]
  • 4 BC–AD 65 – Seneca uses it twice in his tragedies.[3][6]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of burning written records.[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To consume by fire, burn completely, burn down.[2][5]
  2. To burn together.[2]

Word family

  • concrematio

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson