proscindo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [proːsˈkɪn.doː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [proʃˈʃin.do]^[1]

Forms

prōscindō (present infinitive prōscindere, perfect active prōscidī, supine prōscissum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin prō- + scindō (“to cut, split”), and the TLL compares Sanskrit ⟨pra-chid-⟩ in the same sense.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ⟨scindō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *ski-n-d- (“to split, tear off”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Plautus, of ploughing.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to break up the surface of land, plough unbroken or fallow ground for the first time; to slit, gash, as in Apuleius; and figuratively, from Ovid, to flay with words, castigate, revile.^[2][6] Lewis & Short call it poetic and post-Augustan in its general sense “to tear open, cleave”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of ploughing.^[2][5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of verbal attack.^[2][5]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of gashing.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To plough (unbroken land).^[2][6]
2. To slit, gash, cleave.^[2][7]
3. (figurative) To castigate, revile.^[2]

Word family

• proscissiō

Related words

• scindō
• cōnscindō
• rescindō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press