corrodo

Forms

corrōdō (present infinitive corrōdere, perfect active corrōsī, supine corrōsum); third conjugation^[1] Also spelled conrōdō, which a late grammarian demands.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin con- + rōdō (“to gnaw”),^[2][3][1] the prefix here meaning “completely” according to Wiktionary.^[1] rōdō goes back to Proto-Italic *(w)rōde/o- and Proto-Indo-European *Hreh₃d-e/o- or *ureh₃d-e/o- (“to gnaw, furrow”); de Vaan calls its further connections uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Cicero's De divinatione, of mice: si mures corroserint aliquid “if mice have gnawed something”.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it very rare.^[5] It is used of mice and other animals gnawing things to pieces, of locusts in the Vulgate and of wolves in Orosius;^[3] of people gnawing their nails, as in Martial, or bones, as in Juvenal;^[3][5] and of a file eating into iron, in Phaedrus.^[3][6] In a wider sense Jerome and Rufinus use it of texts that have been mutilated.^[3]

Medieval Latin kept the literal sense and added medical ones: remedies that eat away diseased flesh, and diseases such as cancer that eat away the body.^[7] English took it in the late 14th century as corrode, through Old French and directly from Latin.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of mice gnawing things.^[3][5][9]
• c. 15 BC–c. 50 AD – Phaedrus uses it of a file eating iron.^[3][6][9]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of gnawing one's nails.^[3][9]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of gnawing bones.^[3][5][9]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of locusts.^[3][9]
• late 14th century – English borrows it as corrode.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To gnaw, gnaw to pieces, chew up.^[2][5]
2. Of a file or rust, to eat away.^[3]
3. To mutilate (a text).^[3]
4. (Medieval Latin, medicine) To eat away (flesh), of caustic remedies and of disease.^[7]

Word family

• corrōsiō

Related words

• English corrode

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de