Etymologically
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mutilo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmʊ.tɪ.ɫoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmuː.ti.lo][1]

Forms

mutilō (present infinitive mutilāre, perfect active mutilāvī, supine mutilātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mutilus (“maimed, docked”) + -ō.[2][3][1][4] De Vaan finds no etymology for the adjective; he compares only Irish mut and Scottish Gaelic mutach (“short”).[5][6]

The grammarian Donatus explained that animals without horns were called ⟨mutilī⟩, and rejected the view that the word came from multa (“fine, penalty”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and the TLL first record it in Terence;[5][4] in the Hecyra it is used jokingly of fleecing someone, stripping him of his money.[7][8]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to damage something by cutting off a part: Livy has men left with their noses and ears cut off, and also uses it of crippled ships, while Ovid has a snake whose tail has been cut off and a tree whose branches have been lopped.[2][3][7] Curtius uses it of bodies maimed by axes.[3]

It was also used of reducing or shortening: Cicero speaks of an army reduced in numbers, and later jurists of a diminished estate and of curtailed rights.[8][7] Pliny the Elder uses it of mangling words in speech.[8][7] Döderlein notes that it was said of lesser mutilations, such as the loss of horns, a finger or the nose, while truncō was used of greater ones such as the loss of limbs.[9]

It continues in the Tuscan dialect of Lucca as motolare,[4] and English took mutilate from its past participle in the 16th century.[6]

Timeline

  • 190–159 BC – Terence uses it jokingly of fleecing a person.[4][7][10]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of an army reduced in numbers.[8][10]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of noses and ears cut off.[2][10]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of mangling words.[8][10]
  • 1530s – English borrows mutilate, first of books and writings.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To maim, mutilate by cutting or breaking off a part.[2][3]
  2. To cut off, lop off.[2][3]
  3. To reduce, diminish, shorten.[8][7]
  4. To mangle (words) in speaking.[8][7]
  5. (humorous) To fleece, strip of money.[7][8]

Word family

  • admutilō
  • dēmūtilō
  • immutilātus
  • mutilātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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 d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  10. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de