Etymologically
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eneco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈeː.nɛ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈɛː.ne.ko][1]

Forms

ēnecō (present infinitive ēnecāre, perfect active ēnecuī, supine ēnectum); first conjugation[1] Also ēnicō, the regular spelling in Plautus and Terence and found in Varro; from Laberius on, the forms in enec- are usually restored.[2][3] The perfect is ēnecāvī in Plautus, ēnecuī in Seneca and Suetonius.[2] The participle is usually ēnectus, and Pliny the Elder has ēnecātus.[2][4] Plautus has the old future perfect ēnicāssō.[2][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“out, completely”) + necō (“to kill”).[2][1] De Vaan lists it, beside the simple verb, among the derivatives of nex (“death, violent death”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *nek- and Proto-Indo-European *neḱ-s (“death”).[5] He suggests that the participle ⟨ēnectus⟩ could mean that the verb in ⟨-āre⟩ arose in compounds, above all this one, replacing an older verb, though the simple verb could also be made from the noun.[5] Cognate with Sanskrit नश्यति (náśyati, “to perish, disappear”) and Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “dead person”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] who uses it of the infant who strangles both snakes, puer ambō anguīs ēnicat.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

Its first sense is to kill, often slowly, by strangling, starving or overwork:[2][7] Varro has a hawk killing birds, Horace an ox worn out by ploughing,[2] and Tacitus the vapour of a scalding bath.[2][6] Columella and Pliny the Elder use it of frost or shade killing crops and shoots.[2] In comedy it is hyperbolic, to be the death of someone: a character complains that his spleen is killing him, another that someone's silence kills him, and in Terence someone would wear a man out with questions.[2][6] Livy uses ēnectī of men half dead from hunger, cold and dirt.[2][7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of killing and of tormenting.[2][8]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of wearing someone out with questions.[2][8]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses ēnectī of starving, freezing men.[2][8]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a death in a scalding bath.[2][6][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To kill, slay, especially slowly (by strangling, starving, exhaustion).[2][7]
  2. (of plants) To kill, stifle (by frost or shade).[2][7]
  3. (hyperbolically) To exhaust, wear out; to torment, plague (of pain, hunger or a tiresome person).[2][6]

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 k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d 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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de