dimicatio

Forms

dīmicātiō f (genitive dīmicātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dīmicō (“to fight”) + -tiō.^[2][3][1] The verb dīmicō is made from micō (“to dart, flicker”),^[4] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *mikaje- and Proto-Indo-European *mikH-(e)ie- (“to blink”); the Latin verb basically means to dash or move fast to and fro.^[4] Cognate with Welsh edmygaf (“I admire”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL and Köbler record it first in the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero;^[3][5] Cicero asks whether a naval battle was fought with little fighting.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the action of fighting or a fight, a battle, and figuratively a struggle or conflict, as Cicero's claim that he had exposed himself to many struggles for the citizens' safety;^[2] the TLL notes that the plural begins with this passage.^[3] Lewis & Short call it frequent in good prose, in Caesar, Hirtius, Livy and Suetonius.^[6] Köbler records it in the Carolingian Hrabanus Maurus.^[5]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – Recorded in the Rhetorica ad Herennium.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a naval battle and of political struggles.^[2][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar and Hirtius of battles.^[6][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of battles.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A fight, battle, combat.^[2][6][1]
2. A struggle, conflict, contest.^[2][6][1]

Related words

• dīmicō
• micō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press