concussio

Forms

concussiō f (genitive concussiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin concutiō + -tiō.^[2][3] concutiō (“to shake violently”) is made of con- and quatiō (“to shake, strike”),^[1] whose origin de Vaan finds unclear: it may go back to Proto-Indo-European *(s)kuot-i-, or be a word of non-Indo-European origin.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

L&S calls it post-Augustan.^[5] The OLD's first examples are from Seneca (4 BC–65 AD),^[2][6] who uses it for a shaking or disturbance and for an earthquake, a vasta concussio (“a huge shock”) that sank two cities.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Columella has it for the shaking of vessels,^[5] and Pliny the Younger for the constant shaking of torches.^[5] In the jurists it became a legal term for extortion by violence or intimidation, with a title of the Digest devoted to it.^[2][5]

Medieval Latin kept both lines: a shaking, a blow or shock, also in medicine,^[7][8] and oppression or extortion, besides fear and terror.^[9] English borrowed it as concussion around 1400, for a bruising of the head.^[10]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of shaking and of an earthquake.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of the shaking of vessels.^[5][6]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it for extortion.^[2][6]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as concussion.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shaking, disturbance; an earthquake.^[2][5]
2. (law) Extortion by violence or intimidation.^[2][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) A shock, blow; a concussion.^[7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) Oppression; terror, horror.^[9]

Related words

• English concussion

References

1. ^ a b 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. ^ 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 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. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com