Etymologically
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exstirpo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛks(ː)tɪr.poː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eksˈstir.po][1]

Forms

exstirpō (present infinitive exstirpāre, perfect active exstirpāvī, supine exstirpātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled extirpō, as in the Acts of the Arval Brothers of AD 213 and often in manuscripts; later texts also have the simple verb stirpō in the same sense.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + stirps (“stem, root”), with the verbal suffix ⟨-ō⟩.[2][3] De Vaan finds a comparison of the noun with Lithuanian stir̃pti (“to grow up, grow high”) possible but not compelling.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cicero on,[3] who uses it figuratively: some say that the passions, which “we think must be rooted out”, were usefully given by nature.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Cicero it is figurative, of rooting out vices, passions, or humanity from the mind;[5][2] Lewis & Short note that the literal sense, to pull up plants by the root, is found only after Augustus, in Curtius of trees and groves.[5] It is also used of clearing land, as in Columella and Palladius, and of plucking out hairs in Martial and eyes in the elder Seneca.[2][5] The Vulgate uses it of uprooting the strength of Israel.[5]

Ecclesiastical and medieval Latin used it for uprooting and eradicating, of malignant growths in medicine, and for killing, expelling or demolishing.[6][7] The TLL traces Italian sterpare and French étreper to a later vulgar form of it.[3] English took extirpate from its past participle in the 1530s.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of rooting out vices and passions.[3][5][9]
  • 1st century AD – Curtius uses it of uprooting trees.[5][9]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of clearing land.[5][9]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it of plucking out hairs.[2][9]
  • 213 AD – The Acts of the Arval Brothers spell it extirpō.[3]
  • 1530s – English borrows extirpate.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To pull up by the root, root out; to clear (land) in this way.[2][5]
  2. To pluck out (hairs, eyes).[2]
  3. (figurative) To eradicate, extirpate.[2][5][6]
  4. (Medieval Latin) To kill, expel; to demolish.[7]

Word family

  • exstirpātiō
  • exstirpator
  • English extirpate

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de