degrado

Forms

dēgradō (present infinitive dēgradāre, perfect active dēgradāvī, supine dēgradātum); first conjugation^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dē- + gradus (“step, rank”), a verb meaning to bring someone down a step.^[1][2] The dictionaries class it as a word of the Church writers and of the later jurists.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Hilary of Poitiers, who uses it in a historical fragment of clergy removed from their rank by a just sentence.^[1]

Semantic evolution

It was a common word with the Church writers for reducing a cleric to a lower rank as a punishment.^[1] Optatus sets it against promotio (promotion), and Augustine writes that he would not dare to excommunicate a layman, let alone degrade a cleric.^[1] The Rule of Benedict speaks of monks whom the abbot has promoted or degraded,^[1] and the Code of Justinian uses it of depriving a person of rank.^[3]

In Medieval Latin it became a technical term of canon law for expelling a priest from the clerical state,^[4][5] and was used more widely of deposing officials and the powerful, and of declaring something illegitimate.^[4] A Hungarian decree of 1077 orders that a count who breaks the decrees be removed from his county,^[6] and Hungarian medieval Latin also uses it loosely for lowering the value of something.^[6] The humanist Perotti glosses desecro with the word, which he says is the everyday term for making a sacred thing profane.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 315–367/368 AD – Hilary of Poitiers uses it of clergy deprived of their rank.^[1][8]
• 366/367 AD – Optatus contrasts it with promotion.^[1][8]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of degrading a cleric.^[1][9][8]
• 528–534 AD – The Code of Justinian has it for depriving someone of rank.^[3][8]
• 529 AD – The Rule of Benedict speaks of monks whom the abbot has promoted or degraded.^[1][8]
• 1077 – A Hungarian decree threatens a count who breaks it with the loss of his county.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To reduce in rank, depose from an office or dignity.^{[1][10][2][3]}
2. (Medieval Latin, canon law) To expel a cleric from the clerical state, defrock.^[4][5]
3. (Medieval Latin) To declare illegitimate.^[4]
4. (Medieval Latin) To lower the value of, devalue.^[6]
5. (New Latin) To desecrate, make profane.^[7]

Word family

• dēgradātiō

Related words

• English degrade

References

1. ^ 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
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
4. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
6. ^ a b c d Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
7. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson