disseco

Forms

dissecō (present infinitive dissecāre, perfect active dissecuī, supine dissectum); first conjugation^[1] Manuscripts often spell it dissicō, as in Apuleius' dissicant.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dis- + secō (“to cut”).^[2][3] Etymonline traces secō to Proto-Indo-European *sek- (“to cut”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short call it post-Augustan and especially frequent in Pliny the Elder,^[5] who uses it of cutting up animals such as frogs and mice for remedies.^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

Besides Pliny it is used by Suetonius, of people sawn through the middle, and by Gellius.^[3] Christian writers used it of martyrs cut to pieces, such as the tradition that Isaiah was sawn apart,^[3] and Prosper of Aquitaine figuratively, of cutting up an opponent's arguments.^[3]

Medieval texts used it of cutting open or tearing apart bodies and things, of breaking open and cutting off, and figuratively.^[6] English dissect is formed from its participle (about 1600).^[4]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of cutting up animals for remedies.^[3][5][7]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius writes of many people sawn through the middle.^[3][7]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it.^[3][7]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius has the form dissicant.^[2][7]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian writes that the bodies of dead Christians are cut up.^[3][7]
• c. 1600 – English forms dissect from its past participle.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To cut apart, cut in pieces, dismember.^[2][5]
2. To cut open, dissect.^[5][6]
3. (figurative) To pull to pieces, refute.^[3][6]

Word family

• dissectiō

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d 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 k Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de