conculco

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [kɔŋˈkʊɫ.koː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [koŋˈkul.ko]^[1]

Forms

conculcō (present infinitive conculcāre, perfect active conculcāvī, supine conculcātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from con- and calcō “to tread”, from calx “heel”.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of trampling.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to tread underfoot, trample, crush by treading, as of grape skins in Cato, and in Varro and Lucretius; and figuratively to crush, oppress, despise, disregard, as in the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero.^[2][5][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to tread, trample.^[7] English borrowed it as the rare conculcate.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][4]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of treading grape skins.^[5][6][4]
• 86/82 BC – the Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it figuratively.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tread underfoot, trample.^[2]
2. (figurative) To crush, oppress; to despise.^[2]

Word family

• conculcātiō
• conculcatus

Related words

• calcō
• calx

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson