Etymologically
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laceratio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫa.kɛˈraː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [la.t͡ʃeˈrat.t͡si.o][1]

Forms

lacerātiō f (genitive lacerātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lacerō (“to tear, mangle”) + -tiō.[2][1][3] De Vaan takes lacerō as made from the adjective lacer (“torn, mangled”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *lak(V)-ro- (“torn, ragged”), from the root of Proto-Indo-European *lh₂-n-k- (“to tear”); he compares Ancient Greek λακίς (lakís, “rent, tatters”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Cicero,[3] who speaks in the In Pisonem of the mangling of the body.[5]

Semantic evolution

After Cicero the TLL records it in Livy, Celsus and Seneca the philosopher, and in verse only in Prudentius.[3] Cicero uses the plural of women tearing their cheeks in the Tusculan Disputations.[5] The Vulgate's Book of Esther has it of tearing the hair.[5] In Medieval Latin it can also be criticism or abuse.[6] English borrowed it as laceration in the 1590s, through French.[7]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of mangling a body and of women tearing their cheeks.[5][3][8]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of mangled bodies.[5][8]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate, of tearing out one's hair.[5][8]
  • Medieval Latin – Criticism, invective.[6]
  • 1590s – Borrowed into English as laceration through French.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tearing, mangling, mutilation.[2][5][1][9]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Criticism, invective.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson