depopulatio

Forms

dēpopulātiō f (genitive dēpopulātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēpopulor (“to lay waste”) + -tiō,^[2][1] the verb being a compound of dē- and populor (“to ravage”), from populus¹ (“people; army”).^[3] De Vaan explains the meaning “to devastate” as coming from “to have an army pass through”, from Proto-Italic *poplo- (“army”), a word whose further origin is unknown.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first,^[4] several times, meaning the laying waste of a country; elsewhere it is rare.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it in the Verrines, the In Pisonem and the De re publica, of the Thracians' raids in the Pro Fonteio, and in the plural in the Philippics.^[5][6][7] Livy has it too.^[5] Augustine speaks of the ravages of the Tiber and of fires,^[5] and the Vulgate uses it in Micah.^[5][7]

In medieval British sources Bede writes of a people freed from the devastation of the pagans, and later chronicles use it of devastation by the Scots.^[8] In Ecclesiastical Latin it keeps the sense of laying waste and plundering.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the laying waste of a country.^[5][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it.^[5][4]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Micah.^[5][4]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine writes of the ravages of the Tiber and of fires.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A laying waste, devastation, plundering, pillage.^[2][5][6]

Related words

• populor
• populus¹

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson