Etymologically
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oppugnatio

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔp.pʊŋˈnaː.ti.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [op.puɲˈɲat.t͡si.o][1]

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]

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