trucidatio

Forms

trucīdātiō f (genitive trucīdātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin trucīdō (“to slaughter”) + -tiō.^[2][1][3] The verb is obscure.^[4] De Vaan files it under trux (“fierce, savage”) and derives it from a compound “hacking savagely” of that adjective with caedō (“to cut, strike”), rejecting an older explanation as “hacking into four pieces”, with a form of the word for “four”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Cato,^[4][5] in a speech that Gellius quotes: tantas trucidationes facis (“you commit such slaughters”).^[6][7]

Semantic evolution

Cicero speaks of the slaughter of citizens,^[6][7] and Livy writes that it was no longer a battle but a slaughter, as of cattle (non iam pugna, sed trucidatio velut pecorum).^[6][7][8] Celsus uses it in a transferred sense of cutting to pieces,^[6][7] and Pliny the Elder of lopping trees.^[6][9][8]

Christian writers kept the main sense: Lactantius has the slaughter of a man, and Augustine the slaughter in the recent Roman disaster.^[7] It is still found in British Medieval Latin, in Orderic Vitalis and Robert Pullen.^[10] English borrowed it as trucidation in the 1620s.^[11]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses the plural in a speech.^[6][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the slaughter of citizens.^[6][7][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy contrasts a slaughter with a battle.^[6][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of lopping trees.^[6][9][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of the slaughter in a Roman disaster.^[7][5]
• 1620s – Borrowed into English as trucidation.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. Savage slaughter, massacre, butchery.^[2][6]
2. Cutting to pieces.^[6][7]
3. The lopping of trees.^[6][9][8]

Related words

• English trucidation

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
10. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com