eradico

Forms

ērādīcō (present infinitive ērādīcāre, perfect active ērādīcāvī, supine ērādīcātum); first conjugation^[1] Also spelled exrādīcō.^[2][3] Plautus has the old passive infinitive ērādīcārier.^[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“out”) + rādīx (“root”), with the verb ending ⟨-ō⟩.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it several times, mostly in curses, of destroying someone root and branch;^[3][4][5] in one comic passage a boaster wears out people's ears with his tales of battle.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it a word of early Latin.^[3] Terence too has it in a curse, dī tē ērādīcent, “may the gods root you out”.^[4][3] In its literal sense it is to pull up by the roots: Varro uses it of things grown from the earth.^[3][4] The Vulgate has the literal sense in the parables, where every plant not planted by the Father shall be rooted up,^[3] and the figurative one in the prophets.^[3]

Medieval writers used it of pulling up weeds and plants,^[6] of clearing woodland,^[6] of drawing a tooth,^[6] and figuratively of abolishing a custom or wiping out idolatry.^[6] English took eradicate in the early 15th century from its participle.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in curses.^[3][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it in a curse.^[4][3][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of pulling plants out of the ground.^[3][5]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of uprooting plants.^[3][5]
• early 15th century – English borrows eradicate.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tear up by the roots, uproot.^[2][3]
2. To destroy utterly, exterminate.^[2][3]
3. (Medieval Latin) To clear woodland.^[6]

Word family

• ērādīcātiō

Related words

• rādīx

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 l m n o Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com