Etymologically
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discindo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɪsˈkɪn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [diʃˈʃin.do][1]

Forms

discindō (present infinitive discindere, perfect active discidī, supine discissum); third conjugation[1] Silius has the syncopated pluperfect subjunctive discisset.[2][3] Manuscripts often confuse it with dēscendō, and its participle with discīsus and discussus.[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + scindō (“to cut, tear”).[2][4][1] De Vaan traces scindō to Proto-Italic *skinde/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ski-n-d- (“to split, tear off”), a nasal present.[5] Cognate with Sanskrit छिनत्ति (chinátti, “breaks, splits”), Ancient Greek σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”) and Lithuanian skíesti (“to separate”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato,[5] who says to split a Greek willow, salicem Graecam discindito.[6][3]

Semantic evolution

It is to tear apart or cut in two: Terence has tearing a garment, Cicero a whetstone cut through with a razor, Lucretius a cloud split by the wind, and Virgil purple robes torn by hand.[6][3] A special use is tearing open a garment to bare the chest: Cicero has tearing the tunic to show the scars.[3] Figuratively Cicero says that such friendships should be unstitched rather than torn apart,[6][3] and Seneca calls speech divided between questioner and answerer discissa.[6][3] Ammianus uses it of people split into factions.[6]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato, of splitting a willow.[6][3][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence, of tearing clothes.[6][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of breaking off a friendship.[6][3][7]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus, of people divided by factions.[6][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To tear or cut apart, cut in two, split, divide.[2][6][1]
  2. To tear open a garment to bare the chest.[3]
  3. (figurative) To break off abruptly; to interrupt, divide.[6][3]
  4. (Late Latin) Of persons, to divide into factions.[6]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de