Etymologically
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discrucio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [dɪsˈkrʊ.ki.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [disˈkruː.t͡ʃi.o][1]

Forms

discruciō (present infinitive discruciāre, perfect active discruciāvī, supine discruciātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + cruciō (“to torture”).[2][3][1] The simple verb is derived from crux (“cross”);[4] de Vaan finds the further origin of the noun unclear: it may belong with Germanic words such as Old Norse hryggr (“backbone”) and Old English hrycg (“back”), but the root does not look Indo-European, and it may be a substratum word or a loan from a contemporary language.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Plautus on.[3] Plautus uses it of mental torment: discrucior miser amōre, “I am tormented, wretch that I am, by love”, and discrucior animī, “I am in torment of mind”.[2][5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note that it is frequent in Plautus and Cicero and rare elsewhere.[5] Of the body it means to torture severely: Cicero writes of torturing Trebonius, and even Brutus and Cassius, to death (discruciātōs necāret), and Apuleius has discruciābar frīgore, “I was tormented by cold”.[2][3] Late writers such as Firmicus Maternus and Symmachus use it of bodily pain, of the kidneys among others.[3] Of the mind it means to vex, and passive or reflexive to be tormented, also with an accusative and infinitive, as in Cicero's letter where it torments him that an estate is held by someone else.[2][5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the torments of love.[2][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of torture to death.[2][5][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of worries that torment everyone.[2][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of being tormented by cold.[2][6]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it of torture.[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To torture severely, torment (in body).[2][5][7]
  2. To vex, torment (in mind); passive or reflexive, to be tormented, distressed.[2][5][8]

Word family

  • discruciatus

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier