quatio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkʷa.ti.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkʷat.t͡si.o]^[1]

Forms

quatiō (present infinitive quatere, supine quassum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, no perfect stem^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kʷat-i-, perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kuot-i-.^[2] De Vaan compares Germanic verbs for “to shake”, Old High German scutten (“to shake”), and perhaps Lithuanian kùsti (“to recover”), and suggests a non-Indo-European origin.^[2] The LIV derives it from Proto-Indo-European *(s)kweh₁t-, also the root of Ancient Greek πάσσω (pássō, “to sprinkle”).^[1] The Oxford Latin Dictionary calls it doubtful.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was to shake, toss or brandish, as a horse shakes its head in Livy, and Virgil uses it of wings.^[5][6] It was to make a building tremble, to batter or shatter, to throw a country into turmoil, to upset a person's mind, to hurry along, and to beat repeatedly.^[3]

It had no perfect.^[1] In compounds it became -cutiō: concutiō, discutiō, excutiō and percutiō.^[2] English discuss comes from discutere “to shake apart”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[2][4]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of shaking wings.^[6][4]
• late 14th century – English discuss is recorded, from discutere.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To shake, toss, brandish.^[3][5]
2. To make tremble; to batter, shatter.^[3][1]
3. To throw into turmoil.^[3]
4. To unsettle, agitate (the mind).^[3][1]
5. To hurry along, urge on.^[3]
6. To strike repeatedly, beat on.^[3]

Word family

• concutiō
• dēcutiō
• discutiō
• excutiō
• incutiō
• percutiō
• quassō
• quassus
• quatefaciō
• recutiō

Related words

• quassābilis
• quassābundus
• quassātiō
• quassātūra
• quālus
• English discuss
• English quash

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com