Etymologically
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percussor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [pɛrˈkʊs.sɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [perˈkus.sor][1]

Forms

percussor m (genitive percussōris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin percutiō (“to strike through, kill”) + -tor.[2][1] The verb is formed from per- and quatiō (“to shake”),[3] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *kʷat-i-; its further origin is unclear, and he thinks it may be non-Indo-European.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,[4] who uses it of an assassin.[5]

Semantic evolution

Its usual sense is a person hired to kill, an assassin, as in Cicero, Tacitus and Suetonius' assassin set on someone, and Petronius' nocturnal cut-throat.[2][5] In a general sense, a striker, it is post-Augustan, as Pliny the Elder's wounded lion that recognises the man who struck it.[5] Church Latin glosses it “striker, assassin, executioner, bandit”.[6]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of an assassin.[5][4]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a lion's attacker.[5][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus of assassins.[5][4]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius of a hired assassin.[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An assassin, murderer; an executioner.[2][5][6][1]
  2. A striker, stabber.[5][6][1]

Usage notes

Döderlein says that percussor and sīcārius are both instruments of another's will: the percussor carries out a public sentence, like a headsman, while the sīcārius hires out his hand for a secret murder, like a bandit.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper