fratricida

Forms

frātricīda m (genitive frātricīdae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin frāter (“brother”) + -cīda;^[2] the TLL and Georges derive it from the word for brother and caedō (“to kill”).^[3][4] The word for brother goes back to Proto-Italic *frāter- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂-tr- (“brother”);^[5] the verb goes back to Proto-Italic *kaid-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *keh₂id- (“to cut, hew”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cicero (81–43 BC), in his speech De domo sua,^[2][6] and in Cornelius Nepos (c. 100–24 BC), whose Life of Timoleon has a mother denouncing her son as fratricidam impiumque (“a fratricide and impious”).^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It always meant the murderer of a brother.^[2][7] Medieval writers kept the sense, sometimes using the word as an adjective;^[8] Bede applies it to the brother who out of envy killed the just Abel,^[9] and an Old English glossary renders it broðorslaga.^[9] English borrowed it as fratricide in the mid-15th century, for the person who kills a brother.^[10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it in De domo sua.^[2][6]
• c. 100–24 BC – Cornelius Nepos uses it in his Life of Timoleon.^[3][6]
• mid-15th century – English borrows it as fratricide.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. The murderer of a brother, a fratricide.^[2][7]

Word family

• frātricīdium

Related words

• English fratricide

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ 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
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b 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
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com