Etymologically
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exitialis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛk.sɪ.tiˈaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eɡ.zit.t͡siˈaː.lis][1]

Forms

exitiālis (neuter exitiāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin exitium (“destruction, death”) + -ālis.[2][1][3] De Vaan lists exitium among the derivatives of eō1 (“to go”), which he traces to Proto-Indo-European *h₁ei- (“to go”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it first in Lucretius;[4] the OLD's earliest quotation is from Cicero's Verrines, perditae civitates hos solent exitus exitiales habere, “ruined states usually come to such deadly ends”.[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The OLD treats it as the same word in meaning as exitiābilis: destructive, fatal, deadly.[2] Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.[5] Lucretius speaks of deadly motions, and Virgil uses it of the fatal gift to Minerva and of a crime.[2][7] Velleius has a deadly storm, Pliny the Elder deadly poisons and venomous animals, Livy a fatal letter, and Suetonius something held criminal and deadly.[2][5][7] Medieval writers in Britain use it for death-dealing things: Honorius calls hell the exitialem lacum, and Gerald of Wales writes of the deadly end of tyrants.[8]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.[4][2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of deadly ends of states.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil applies it to the fatal gift and to a crime.[2][7][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of poisons.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Destructive, fatal, deadly.[2][5][7]

Usage notes

Its synonym exitiābilis is found from Plautus on.[4][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 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
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ 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