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fodico

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word fodico

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin fodiō
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin fodio
Latin fodico
From the same root
Latin confodio ← fodio
Latin defodio ← fodio
Latin effodio ← fodio
Latin fossilis ← fodio
Latin fossor ← fodio
Latin infodio ← fodio
Latin perfodio ← fodio
Latin suffodio ← fodio
Latin transfodio ← fodio

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɔ.dɪ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈfɔː.di.ko][1]

Forms

fodicō (present infinitive fodicāre, perfect active fodicāvī, supine fodicātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin fodiō (“to dig, pierce”) + -icō.[2][3][1] The grammarian Nonius defines it as the same as fodiō, and Priscian sets it beside vellicō from vellō and similar pairs.[3] The base goes back to Proto-Italic *foþ-i- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰodʰ-i- (“to poke, dig”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Plautus, figuratively: in the Bacchides cares animum fodicant, “prick the mind”, and in the Casina a speaker says stimulus ego nunc sum tibi; fodicō corculum, “now I am your goad;[5][3] I prick your little heart”.[5][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it rare but classical.[5] Cicero keeps the figurative use for things we think evil that prick us so that we cannot hide or forget them.[5] The literal sense, to prod or stab, is in Horace's advice to buy a slave who will prompt names and nudge one's left side,[5][2] and in Ammianus Marcellinus, who has lateribus fodicātīs, “with their sides pierced”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of cares that prick the mind.[5][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of troubles that prick us.[5][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace uses it of nudging someone in the side.[5][6]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it of pierced sides.[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. to prod, jog (in the side); to stab, pierce.[2][5]
  2. (figurative) to prick, trouble (the mind).[5][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c 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 j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Fodico.” Etymologically, 23 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/fodico. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·