Etymologically
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seduco

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [seːˈduː.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [seˈduː.ko][1]

Forms

sēdūcō (present infinitive sēdūcere, perfect active sēdūxī, supine sēductum); third conjugation, irregular short imperative[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sē- (“apart, aside”) + dūcō (“to lead”).[2][1] De Vaan traces dūcō to Proto-Italic *douk-e- and Proto-Indo-European *deuk-e/o- (“to draw”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first example is Plautus' Asinaria: “the old man took me aside today alone, away from the house”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to draw a person aside, and to lead someone out of harm's way, as Cicero asks what crime it was unless that it led someone away from the death due to him on the Ides of March.[2][4] In Ulpian it is to lead astray or entice.[2] Of things it is to move away or separate, as Ovid's new earth lately drawn away from the sky; to withdraw from society, to appropriate, as Seneca of greed that seeks to draw something aside for itself, and in the passive to withdraw mentally.[2] Ovid also uses it of birds dividing into two camps.[2] Church Latin glosses it to lead astray, seduce, deceive.[5] English seduce (1520s) first meant to persuade a vassal to desert his allegiance; the sexual sense appears in the 1550s.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of taking someone aside.[2][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of leading someone out of harm's way.[2][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the earth separated from the sky.[2][7]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian of leading astray.[2][7]
  • 1520s – English seduce is formed from it.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To draw aside; to lead out of harm's way.[2][4][1]
  2. To lead astray, entice;[2][5][1] (Ecclesiastical Latin) to seduce, deceive.[2][5][1]
  3. To move away, withdraw; to separate off.[2][4]
  4. To withdraw from society; to appropriate; in the passive, to withdraw mentally.[2]
  5. To draw apart, divide.[2]

Word family

  • sēductibilis
  • sēductilis
  • sēductiō
  • sēductor
  • sēductōrius
  • sēductrīx
  • sēductus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de