Etymologically
Log in

quatio

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 00:11. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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
  • 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