depopulor

Forms

dēpopulor (present infinitive dēpopulārī, perfect active dēpopulātus sum); first conjugation, deponent^[1] There is also an active form dēpopulō, -āre.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + populor (“to ravage”).^[2][1] De Vaan derives populor from populus, which goes back to Proto-Italic *poplo- (“army”): the sense “to devastate” probably came from letting an army pass through a land; the further origin of the noun is unknown.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is to sack, pillage or plunder places: Cicero says Verres plundered the province of Sicily for three years, and Caesar writes of laying waste the territory of Ambiorix.^[2][4] It is used also of people and herds, as Livy's raids on neighbours.^[2] Transferred and in poetry it is to ravage by grazing, and of natural forces to lay waste;^[2] Tacitus has a plague ravaging the whole human race, and in the Digest it is to rob, as of those who plunder inheritances.^[2] Lewis & Short call it classical.^[4] Church Latin glosses it to ravage.^[5]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius.^[3][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of Verres plundering Sicily.^[2][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of laying waste territory.^[4][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of raids on neighbours.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of a plague.^[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To sack, pillage, plunder (places, people or herds).^[2][4][1][5]
2. To ravage, lay waste; of grazing animals, to strip; of disease, to ravage.^[2][1]
3. To rob, despoil.^[2]

Word family

• dēpopulātiō
• dēpopulātor

Related words

• populor

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de