terrifico

Forms

terrificō (present infinitive terrificāre); first conjugation, transitive^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin terrificus + -ō, from terrificus (“frightening”).^[1][2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius uses it of things that terrify our minds even when we are awake.^[1][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it poetic and very rare.^[2] Virgil uses it of blind fires in the clouds that terrify the mind,^[2][4] and Statius of frightening men.^[2] Church Latin kept the sense to frighten or scare.^[6]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of terrifying the mind.^[1][4][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of fires in the clouds terrifying the mind.^[2][4][5]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of frightening men.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To terrify, frighten, alarm.^[1][2][6]

Word family

• terrificatio

References

1. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson