exitium

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɛkˈsɪ.ti.ũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [eɡˈzit.t͡si.um]^[1]

Forms

exitium n (genitive exitiī or exitī); second declension^[1] Ennius has a genitive plural exitium.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from the stem ⟨exit-⟩ of exeō “to go out” with -ium, from ex- and eō “to go”.^[2][1] De Vaan traces ⟨eō⟩ to Proto-Italic *ei- (“to go”), Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest source is Ennius, and the OLD's earliest citations are Plautus, of death.^[5][2] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC and Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short note a rare early sense “a going out”; in use it meant destruction, ruin, disaster, as in Terence and Cicero's exitiō esse alicui “to be someone's ruin”; death, as in Plautus; and by metonymy a cause of death or ruin.^[3][2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means destruction, ruin, death, ending.^[7] British Medieval Latin used it also for an outrage or crime.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of death.^[2][5]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of ruin.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Destruction, ruin, disaster.^[2][3]
2. Death.^[2]
3. A cause of ruin, a bane.^[2]

Word family

• exitiābilis
• exitiālis
• exitiōsus

Related words

• exeō
• exitus
• eō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
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