deseco

Forms

dēsecō (present infinitive dēsecāre, perfect active dēsecuī, supine dēsectum); first conjugation^[1] Spellings with ⟨desic-⟩ occur in Cicero's Timaeus and in the land surveyors, and an inscription has desequerit for the perfect.^[2] The perfect in ⟨-uī⟩ is found from Ovid on.^[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + secō (“to cut”).^[2][3][1] The verb secō goes back to Proto-Italic *sekaje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *sekh₁-ie/o- (“to cut off”).^[4] Its cognates include Umbrian prusekatu (“to cut out”), said of the entrails of a sacrificial animal.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Varro's treatise on farming, of cutting off the shoot that is to be grafted onto a vine.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Varro also uses it of cutting straw in the harvest.^[2] Cicero has it in his Timaeus of parts taken from a whole, Livy of ears of grain cut from the sheaves, and Columella of grapes cut from the vine and of mowing crops and meadows.^[5] Horace uses it of a small part taken from every creature.^[5] In Germanicus it is said of lines that cut off arcs of a circle,^[2] and Statius uses it poetically of stone carved out of quarries.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of cutting vine shoots and reaping straw.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in his Timaeus of parts cut from a whole.^[5][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of ears of grain cut from sheaves.^[5][6]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of mowing crops and meadows.^[5][6]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of stone cut from quarries.^[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cut off, sever; to cut a part away from a whole.^[2][5]
2. To reap or cut (a crop); to mow (a field).^[2][5]
3. (of lines) To cut off (an arc).^[2]
4. (poetic) To carve out (stone from a quarry).^[5]

Word family

• dēsecātiō
• dēsectiō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
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 c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de