Etymologically
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mulco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmʊɫ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmul.ko][1]

Forms

mulcō (present infinitive mulcāre, perfect active mulcāvī, supine mulcātum); first conjugation[1] Plautus has an old future perfect mulcassitis for mulcāveritis.[2][3] Manuscripts often write it mulctō, confusing it with multō2.[4][3]

Etymology

It is probably related to mulceō (“to stroke, caress”).[2][4][1] De Vaan finds it hard to derive from that verb's stem ⟨*molk-eje-⟩ and suggests that it is from Proto-Italic *molkā- (“a stroke”), a noun formed from the same root, which he gives as Proto-Indo-European *m(o)lḱ-eie- (“to touch repeatedly”).[5] Cognate with Sanskrit मृशसे (mr̥śáse).[5] LIV links the root with Proto-Indo-European *h₂melǵ- (“to milk”), which de Vaan calls possible but unproven.[5] Lewis & Short compared Ancient Greek μάρπτω (márptō, “to seize”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus,[5] who uses it of beating a person: priu' quam ego hic te iubeo mulcari male, “before I have you thrashed here”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is to beat up or handle someone roughly:[2] Terence has ipsum dominum atque omnem familiam mulcāvit usque ad mortem, of a beating given to a master and his whole household,[3] in Cicero people are driven back male mulcātī clāvīs ac fūstibus, “badly beaten with clubs and cudgels”,[3] and Tacitus writes of bodies bruised.[3] Livy uses it of ships damaged in a sea battle, in the sense “to worst”,[2][3] and Curtius of old men mutilated in most of their limbs.[2] Figuratively, Cicero speaks of writers who were roughly handled.[3][6] Lewis & Short list verberō, tundō and pulsō as synonyms.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of beating a person.[2][5][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence has mulcāvit usque ad mortem.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it literally and figuratively.[3][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy applies it to damaged ships.[2][7]
  • 1st century AD – Curtius uses it of mutilation.[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To beat up, thrash, handle roughly.[2][3]
  2. (transferred) To worst, get the better of (in battle).[2]
  3. Of things, to damage, mutilate.[2][3][1]

Word family

  • commulcō
  • mulcator

Usage notes

The DMLBS records a separate mulco “miller” in the 15th-century Catholicon Anglicum.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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