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iugulatio

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word iugulatio

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
after 44 BC, Bellum Hispaniense
Ultimate origin
Latin iugulum
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin iugulo
Latin iugulatio

Forms

iugulātiō f (genitive iugulātiōnis); third declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin iugulō (“to cut the throat, kill”) + -tiō.[1][3] That verb is formed from iugulum (“throat”), which de Vaan places with iugum (“yoke”) and iungō (“to join”): it probably meant a small yoke or connecting part before it came to mean the throat.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is the writer of the Bellum Hispaniense,[3][5] dated by Köbler to after 44 BC;[6] he uses it of a massacre of the townspeople, iugulātiōne oppidānōrum factā.[3][7]

Semantic evolution

It means a slaughter or massacre, the killing of people by cutting their throats.[1][5] After the Bellum Hispaniense it appears in the Old Latin Bible (the Itala), where the Vulgate has interfectiō in the same verse, and in Tertullian.[3]

Medieval British chroniclers used it of the slaying of nobles and of a murder that an heir wished to avenge.[8]

Timeline

  • after 44 BC – The Bellum Hispaniense uses it of massacres.[3][6]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it.[3][6]
  • after 220 AD – The Old Latin Bible uses it in Isaiah.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Slaughter, massacre; a killing by cutting the throat.[1][5][2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ 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
Cite this entry

“Iugulatio.” Etymologically, 21 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/iugulatio. Accessed 22 Oct. 2026.

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