destructivus

Forms

dēstrūctīvus (feminine dēstrūctīva, neuter dēstrūctīvum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dēstruō (“to pull down, destroy”) + -īvus.^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in Caelius Aurelianus' work on chronic diseases (1.4.84), in the phrase sine ullo destructivo adiutorio, “without any destructive remedy”.^[4][2][3] Köbler dates him to the 5th century AD.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Boethius made it a term of logic in his Latin Aristotle: in the Topics some problems are both constructiva and destructiva, and he speaks of “destructive places” of argument; the adverb dēstrūctīvē in his Prior Analytics is opposed to cōnstrūctīvē.^[2]

Medieval Latin used it widely in the general sense “destroying, damaging”, in natural philosophy and medicine, and in politics of what brings ruin; in logic it meant “refuting”, and passively “refutable”.^[6] British writers from Adelard of Bath to Wyclif used it of what destroys the body or of men who ruin kingdoms.^[7] It passed into Old French as destructif, whence English destructive in the late 15th century,^[8] and into Italian as distruttivo.^[9][1]

Timeline

• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of a remedy.^[4][2][5]
• 1363 – An English monastic document fears that a small spark, through the sloth of prelates, may grow into a destructive flame.^[7]
• late 15th century – English takes it, through French, as destructive.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Destructive, able to destroy or damage.^[4][3][2][6]
2. (logic) Refuting, refutative; opposed to cōnstrūctīvus.^[2][6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin, logic) Refutable.^[6]

Related words

• English destructive

Usage notes

The adverb dēstrūctīvē “by way of refutation” is found in Boethius.^[2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier