crucifigo

Forms

crucifīgō (present infinitive crucifīgere, perfect active crucifīxī, supine crucifīxum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin crux (“cross”) + fīgō (“to fasten”), with the first part in the dative, “to a cross”;^[2][3][1] it is often written separated, ⟨crucī fīgō⟩.^[2][4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author with the compound is Valerius Maximus (c. 31 AD), who reports that Domitius crucified a shepherd.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Seneca the Elder uses it in his Controversiae, of a master who orders in his will that a slave be crucified by his heirs, and of a captured general.^[6][7] Pliny the Elder uses it of lions that were crucified in Africa to deter others, and later writers transfer it to things fastened up crosswise, such as the crayfish that Palladius has fixed in a garden, or tunics stretched out by fullers in Augustine.^[6]

In the Vulgate it is the word for the crucifixion of Christ and of the two robbers, with the crowd's cry crucifige eum “crucify him”.^[6][8] Medieval writers also used it figuratively, to mortify the flesh and to oppress, and the participle crucifixus became a noun, the Crucified.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 31 AD – Valerius Maximus says that Domitius crucified a shepherd.^[6][5]
• c. 37–41 AD – Seneca the Elder uses it in his Controversiae.^[6][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of lions crucified in Africa.^[6][10]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in his life of Domitian.^[6][5][10]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of the crucifixion.^[6][8][10]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of fullers stretching tunics.^[6][10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To crucify, fasten to a cross.^[2][4][7]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To crucify (Christ).^[11][9]
3. To fasten up crosswise, nail up (an animal).^[6][9]
4. To stretch out (cloth).^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin, figurative) To mortify (the flesh); to oppress, torment.^[9]

Word family

• concrucifigo
• crucifīxiō
• crucifixor
• recrucifigo

Related words

• English crucify

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson