contundo

Forms

contundō (present infinitive contundere, perfect active contudī, supine contūsum); third conjugation^[1] Ennius has the perfect contūdit with a long vowel;^[2][3] the participle contunsus is found in Virgil and Pliny the Elder.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from con- (“together, thoroughly”) and tundō (“to beat, pound”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ⟨tundō⟩ to Proto-Italic *(s)tund- and the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *(s)tu-n-d- (“to thrust”), cognate with Sanskrit तुदति (tudáti, “thrusts, crushes”) and perhaps Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌿𐍄𐌰𐌽 (stautan, “to thrust”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has “he beat me with his fists” in the Amphitruo.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to pound to pieces or crush, as Cato's olives crushed with mastic, and to bruise or make sore, as in Plautus.^[2][5][1] Figuratively it is to subdue utterly, crush or quell, of nations and feelings, as Accius' “a wild man must be crushed by a fierce command”;^[2][3] Ennius has the cruel winter that crushed their strength.^[2][3] Plautus also uses it as to outdo, as “I will eclipse the deeds of Talthybius”.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “beat, bruise, subdue”.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a beating.^[2][7]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of crushed olives.^[2][7]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius of crushing winter.^[3][7]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of crushing a wild man.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To pound, crush, beat to pieces.^[2][5][1][6]
2. To bruise, make sore.^[2][1][6]
3. To subdue utterly, quell, suppress.^[2][1][6]
4. To outdo, eclipse.^[2]

Word family

• contūsiō
• contūsum

Related words

• tundō
• obtundō
• retundō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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 d Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de