Etymologically
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extermino

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈstɛr.mɪ.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ekˈstɛr.mi.no][1]

Forms

exterminō (present infinitive extermināre, perfect active extermināvī, supine exterminātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + terminō (“to set bounds”), to send beyond the boundary.[2][3] Etymonline derives it from the phrase ⟨ex termine⟩ “beyond the boundary”, from termen (“boundary”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first quotations in the OLD and Lewis & Short are in Cicero, who says a man had Gaius Marcellus driven from a city.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is to expel or banish, and to dismiss an idea from the mind: Cicero says he does not think the questions of the natural philosophers should be banished.[2] Lewis & Short find it rare except in Cicero and in Church Latin.[3] In the Old Latin psalms it renders a misread Greek verb, so that Tertullian has hands and feet ⟨exterminātī⟩ where the Vulgate has “pierced”.[5] In Late Latin it came to mean to destroy.[4][1] English exterminate dates from the 1540s, first meaning to drive away.[4]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of driving a man out and of dismissing questions.[2][3][6]
  • 1540s – English exterminate, to drive away.[4]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drive beyond the borders, expel, banish.[2][3][1][7]
  2. To dismiss (an idea from the mind).[2]
  3. (Late Latin) To abolish, destroy.[4][1]

Word family

  • exterminātiō
  • exterminātor
  • exterminus
  • exterminabilis

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson