Etymologically
Log in

exscindo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 19:31. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛks(ː)kɪn.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eksˈʃin.do][1]

Forms

exscindō (present infinitive exscindere, perfect active exscidī, supine exscissum); third conjugation[1] It is also spelled excindō;[2][3] Cassiodorus insists on the ⟨s⟩, since the simple verb is scindō.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“out”) + scindō (“to split, tear”).[2][3][1] De Vaan traces scindō to Proto-Italic *ski-n-d-e/o- and the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *ski-n-d- (“to split, tear off”).[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek σχίζω (skhízō, “to split”) and Sanskrit छिनत्ति (chinátti, “breaks, splits”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Cicero's De Domo Sua, of destroying the cities of enemies.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense is to tear out, but it is used above all of destroying or demolishing towns and buildings, as Virgil's Pergamum that could not be destroyed by Greek weapons and Statius' Mycenae.[2][5] Of people it means to exterminate, as Sallust's “they drag off and destroy allies and friends” and Virgil's wicked race to be destroyed with the sword;[2][6] Tacitus uses it of cutting the enemy to pieces.[2][6] Church Latin glosses it to raze to the ground,[7] and Medieval Latin also has it of knocking out and breaking off.[8] English exscind is a learned borrowing.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of destroying cities.[2][9]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust of exterminating people.[2][9]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of the destruction of Troy's citadel.[2][9]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of cutting the enemy to pieces.[6][9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To tear out; to demolish, destroy towns or buildings.[2][5][1]
  2. To exterminate, destroy people.[2][5]

Word family

  • exscissōrius

References

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