punctuo

Forms

pūnctuō (present infinitive pūnctuāre, perfect active pūnctuāvī, supine pūnctuātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pūnctus (“a point, prick”), formed with the verb ending -ō.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A medieval word, its first dated record is a Polish church court record of 1471, where it means to assign someone their due portion.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Wiktionary gives the basic sense “to mark with a point, to point or prick”.^[1] Du Cange quotes it from Elmham's Life of Henry V in the sense of settling, determining or agreeing on terms.^[4]

The past participle punctuatus gave English punctuate “to point out” in the 1630s; the sense of marking pauses in writing is from 1818, probably a back-formation from punctuation.^[2] French ponctuer also descends from it.^[1]

Timeline

• 1471 – A Polish court record uses it for assigning someone a due portion.^[3]
• 1630s – English punctuate “to point out”, from the past participle.^[2]
• 1818 – English punctuate in the sense of marking pauses in writing.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Medieval Latin) To mark with a point; to point, prick.^[1]
2. (Medieval Latin) To settle, determine, agree on (terms).^[4]
3. (Medieval Latin) To assign (someone) a due portion.^[3]

Related words

• punctum
• English punctuate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
4. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre