internecio

Forms

interneciō f (genitive interneciōnis); third declension^[1] Also spelled interniciō.^[2][3]

Etymology

The OLD analyses it as from Latin inter- + nex (“violent death”) + -iō,^[2] and the TLL likewise derives it from inter and nex;^[4] Lewis and Short and Wiktionary take it from the verb internecō (“to exterminate”).^[3][1] Priscian explained it as made from ⟨internectus⟩ with the ⟨t⟩ dropped for euphony.^[4] nex goes back to Proto-Italic *nek- and Proto-Indo-European *neḱ-s (“death”), with cognates such as Sanskrit नश्यति (náśyati, “to perish, disappear”) and Ancient Greek νεκρός (nekrós, “dead body”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Lucilius,^[5][6] where it means total destruction: illud ad incita cum redit atque internecionem, “when it comes to a standstill and extermination”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means total destruction of life, extermination, massacre.^[2][3] With verbs of killing, ad internecionem means to the point of extermination: in the Bellum Africum cavalry is wiped out ad internecionem, and Nepos speaks of wars fought to the death.^[2][3] Accius uses it by metonymy for the cause of destruction, the brand on which Meleager's life depended.^[2] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means carnage or massacre, with a variant internecium.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of extermination.^[2][5][6]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of a cause of destruction.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the massacre of citizens.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Total destruction of life, extermination, massacre, carnage.^[2][3][1]
2. ad internecionem: to the point of extermination.^[2][3]
3. A cause of destruction.^[2]

Word family

• internecīda

Related words

• interneciēs
• internecium
• nex
• necō
• internecō
• perniciēs

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c 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. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson