Etymologically
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exaedifico

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛk.sae̯ˈdɪ.fɪ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eɡ.zeˈdiː.fi.ko][1]

Forms

exaedificō (present infinitive exaedificāre, perfect active exaedificāvī, supine exaedificātum); first conjugation[1] It is also written exedificō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + aedificō (“to build”).[4][2][1] The simple verb is formed from aedēs (“temple; house”) with ⟨-ficō⟩, “make”;[4] de Vaan traces that noun to Proto-Italic *aiþ- (“fireplace”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)idʰ- (“burning”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,[4][2] who uses it in the Mostellaria of a house that has been built very well indeed (exaedificātās insānum bene).[4]

Semantic evolution

Its sense is to carry a building through to completion, to build up or erect: Cicero speaks of a house that his correspondent had already measured out and built in his mind, Caesar of a town that Labienus had built at his own expense, and Sallust of houses and villas.[4][6] Livy, Curtius and Pliny the Elder use it of camps, ships and roofs.[4][6] Figuratively it means to complete a work: Cicero asks someone not to mind finishing the work he has begun, and Plautus jokes about someone “completing” the laziness he has begun.[4][6] Plautus also plays on aedēs with “to turn out of the house” (exaedificāvisset mē ex hīs aedibus).[4][6]

Ecclesiastical and medieval Latin kept the sense “to build, erect”, for instance of churches.[7][3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of building a house and, jokingly, for turning someone out.[4][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it literally and figuratively.[4][6][8]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of a town built at someone's expense.[4][8]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of houses and villas.[4][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To finish building, build up, construct, erect.[4][6][7]
  2. (figurative) To complete (a work).[4][6]
  3. (humorous) To turn out of doors.[4][6]

Word family

  • exaedificātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ 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 f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de