conflagratio

Forms

cōnflagrātiō f (genitive cōnflagrātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cōnflagrō (“to burn up”) + -tiō.^[2][3] The verb is a compound of flagrō (“to blaze”),^[1] which goes back to Proto-Italic *flagro- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰl̥g-ro- (“burning”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Seneca has it first, in the Natural Questions, setting the flood that covered all the plains beside the burning in which most living things were parched.^[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It was a rare, post-Augustan word.^[5] Suetonius used it for the eruption of Vesuvius,^[2][6] Lactantius of perishing by fire,^[6] and Arnobius in the plural.^[3] Theological writers applied it to the burning of the world at the end of time.^[7]

Medieval Latin used it for fires of every kind: a city burnt by fire from heaven, the burning of castles in war, subterranean fire and the fire of hell, and in philosophy and theology for the world-conflagration.^[7][8] English conflagration (1550s) comes from it, through French or directly.^[9]

Timeline

• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca contrasts a universal flood with a universal burning.^[3][10]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it for the eruption of Vesuvius.^[2][10]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius speaks of perishing by fire.^[6][10]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it in the plural, in the City of God.^[3][10]
• 1550s – English borrows it as conflagration.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A conflagration, burning; also the eruption of a volcano.^[2][5]
2. (Medieval Latin, theology) The burning of the world at the end of time.^[7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A fire, blaze.^[7][8]

Related words

• flagrō
• English conflagration

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d 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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de