evacuo

Forms

ēvacuō (present infinitive ēvacuāre, perfect active ēvacuāvī, supine ēvacuātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ex- + vacuō (“to empty”).^[2][1][3] The base goes back to the adjective Proto-Italic *wako- (“empty”) that de Vaan reconstructs for Proto-Italic, from Proto-Indo-European *h1uh2-ko-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Pliny the Elder on, of purging the bowels.^[5][3] The TLL notes a possible earlier instance in Columella, where the manuscripts read the simple verb.^[3]

Semantic evolution

The OLD records it only for emptying a vessel and, specifically, for purging the bowels.^[2] Christian writers, from Tertullian on, used it figuratively for making something empty or void, and it became very common in Church Latin.^[3] The Vulgate has it for putting away childish things and for making something void,^[5] and Justinian's Code for cancelling an obligation.^[5]

Medieval Latin added the senses of breaking a promise and, reflexively, of dropping a legal claim,^[6] and used it for emptying a place or unloading a ship.^[7] The medical sense passed into English as evacuate.^[8]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of purging the bowels.^[5][9]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian is the first to use it figuratively, “to make void”.^[3][9]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for putting away childish things.^[5][9]
• 528–534 AD – Justinian's Code uses it for cancelling an obligation.^[5][9]
• early 15th century – Borrowed into English as evacuate, in medicine.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To empty (a vessel); to purge (the bowels).^[2][5]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To lay aside, get rid of.^[5][10]
3. (Late Latin) To make void, cancel, annul.^[5][10][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) To break (one's word or promise).^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin) To empty (a place); to unload (a ship).^[7]

Related words

• English evacuate

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson