Etymologically
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conflicto

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kõːˈfliːk.toː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [koɱˈflik.to][1]

Forms

cōnflīctō (present infinitive cōnflīctāre, perfect active cōnflīctāvī, supine cōnflīctātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cōnflīgō (“to strike together, clash”) + -tō, a frequentative.[2][3][4] That verb is con- with flīgō (“to strike”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *flīg- and Proto-Indo-European *bhleiǵ-e/o- (“to hit, crush”) or Proto-Indo-European *bhliH-ǵ-e/o-, comparing Ancient Greek φλίβω (phlíbō, “to rub, crush”).[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Terence on,[4] who has someone who struggles with characters of that kind.[3]

Semantic evolution

It is used both as an active verb and as a deponent cōnflīctor.[4][2] Actively it is to strike repeatedly, buffet, as Tacitus' men battered by heavy blows from above.[2] More often in the passive it is to be harassed, distressed or tormented: the Rhetorica ad Herennium has men tormented by many great troubles.[2] As a deponent it is to contend or struggle: Cicero asks whether someone would rather struggle in a more honourable trial, and Nepos has a man struggle with adverse fortune.[2][3] Church Latin glosses it contend, struggle with.[6]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence of struggling with characters.[3][4]
  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of torments.[2]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a contest in court.[2]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of blows.[2]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To strike repeatedly, buffet.[2][3][1]
  2. (usually passive) To be harassed, distressed, tormented.[2][1]
  3. (usually deponent) To contend, struggle.[2][3][6]

Word family

  • cōnflīctātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson