exstinctio

Forms

exstīnctiō f (genitive exstīnctiōnis); third declension^[1] Also spelled ⟨extinctiō⟩, the more usual spelling in the manuscripts.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin exstinguō (“to put out, quench; to destroy”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is its first author: in the Tusculan Disputations he says that the last day may bring not annihilation but a change of place.^[4][3][5] A fragment of his Hortensius, quoted by Augustine, speaks of the extinction of life.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero and later it meant annihilation, and above all death, the end of a life;^[3][2] Arnobius calls death that which brings annihilation, and Augustine defines death as a kind of extinction of the soul or of life in the body.^[3] Christian writers used it of the destruction of the devil, of heresy, of the vices and of charity.^[3] The literal sense, the putting out of a light or fire, appears in Boethius' translation of Aristotle, of the eclipse of the moon and of thunder as fire put out in a cloud,^[3][6] and Bede writes of the kindling and putting out of the moon.^[6]

Medieval Latin used it for the putting out of candles in the liturgy and in excommunication,^[7] the quenching of heated metal and the slaking of lime,^[7][8][9] and in law the discharge of a debt, or a cancelling or annulment.^[8][9] Greek–Latin glossaries give it for ἀπόσβεσις (apósbesis) and σβέσις (sbésis), a quenching.^[10] English extinction, first “annihilation”, was taken from the Latin word in the early 15th century.^[11]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the annihilation that death might bring.^[4][3][5]
• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian writes of the destruction of the devil.^[3][5]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius calls death that which brings annihilation.^[3][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine defines death as a kind of extinction of the soul in the body.^[3][5]
• early 15th century – English borrows extinction.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Extinction, annihilation; death.^[2][4][3][6]
2. (Late Latin) Destruction, suppression (of vices, heresy, the devil).^[3][7]
3. (Late Latin) The putting out of a light or fire.^[6][3][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) The putting out of candles, in the liturgy or at an excommunication.^[7]
5. (Medieval Latin) The quenching of heated metal; the slaking of lime.^[7][8][12]
6. (Medieval Latin, law) Discharge of a debt; cancelling, abolition.^[8][9]

Related words

• English extinction

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d e 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
9. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
10. ^ Goetz, Georg (1888–1923), Corpus glossariorum Latinorum, Leipzig: Teubner; vols. VI–VII Thesaurus glossarum emendatarum, digital ed. CGLO, Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
12. ^ Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences