oppugnatio

Forms

oppugnātiō f (genitive oppugnātiōnis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled obpugnātiō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from oppugnō (“to attack, besiege”) with the suffix -tiō; compare impugnātiō.^[2][3][1] The verb is formed from ob- (“against”) and pugnō (“to fight”), from pugna (“fight”); de Vaan puts ⟨pugnus⟩ “fist” with pungō (“to prick”), from Proto-Italic *puk/g-n(o)- (“fist”), cognate with Ancient Greek πύξ (púx, “with the fist”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler gives Cicero as its first author,^[5] who speaks of the storming of towns in De oratore.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

It is an attack on a town or other fortified position, an assault or siege, as in Cicero and Caesar;^[2][6] Caesar's oppugnātiō Gallōrum is the Gauls' way of attacking towns.^[2][6] The TLL finds the plural from Cicero on.^[3] Lewis and Short also give a figurative attack or accusation.^[6]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the storming of towns.^[6][3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar of the Gallic way of attack.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An attack on a fortified place, assault, siege.^[2][6][1]
2. (figurative) An attack, accusation.^[6]

Related words

• oppugnō
• pugna
• obsidiō
• expugnātiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press