transfodio

Forms

trānsfodiō (present infinitive trānsfodere, perfect active trānsfōdī, supine trānsfossum); third (-iō variant) conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin trāns- (“across, through”) + fodiō (“to dig, pierce”).^[2][1] De Vaan traces fodiō to Proto-Italic *foþ-i- and Proto-Indo-European *bhodh-i- (“to poke, dig”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest quotation in the OLD is from Caesar, who writes that men who fell into the pits were run through: in scrobes delati transfodiebantur.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Its main sense is to pierce with a weapon, to run through:^[2] Livy writes of a consul who ran a fleeing Gaul through the side,^[5][4] Tacitus of an eye pierced,^[4] and Pliny the Elder of a snail pierced with a needle.^[4] Virgil uses the passive participle with an accusative of the part, in the Greek manner: pectora duro transfossi ligno, “pierced in the breast by the hard wood”.^[4][6][5] Livy also uses it in its literal sense of digging through a wall to make a way into a city.^[2][5] Lewis & Short note that it is classical but not found in Cicero.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of men run through in pits.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil has pectora transfossī.^[4][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of piercing a fleeing enemy and of digging through a wall.^[2][4][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of piercing a snail with a needle.^[4][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus has trānsfossō oculō.^[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To dig through to the other side of.^[2][5]
2. To pierce with a weapon, run through, stab, transfix.^[2][4][1]

Related words

• fodiō
• cōnfodiō
• perfodiō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de