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trucido

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word trucido

Confidence
Uncertain
Formation
Compound
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Latin (caedō)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [trʊˈkiː.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [truˈt͡ʃiː.do][1]

Forms

trucīdō (present infinitive trucīdāre, perfect active trucīdāvī, supine trucīdātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

Its second part is caedō (“to cut, kill”).[2][1] Wiktionary and de Vaan explain it as a shortened ⟨*trucicīdō⟩ from trux (“savage”) and ⟨caedō⟩, “to hack savagely”; the OLD and de Vaan also mention a first element ⟨*kʷtru-⟩ from quattuor (“four”), “to cut into four”, and Lewis and Short think of truncus (“trunk”).[1][3][2][4] The origin of ⟨trux⟩ itself is uncertain; de Vaan mentions a link with Proto-Celtic *druko- (“bad”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Lucretius as its first author;[3] the OLD's earliest example is a speech of Gracchus, and Cato already has the noun trucīdātiō.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is to slaughter animals, and above all to kill people savagely or in great numbers, to butcher or massacre, as in Cicero's Catilinarians, Virgil and Livy.[2][4] Figuratively Cicero has young men “butchered by usury”.[2]

Church Latin glosses it “slaughter, slay, massacre, cut to pieces”.[5]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius.[3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of massacre and of ruin by usury.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To slaughter (animals).[2]
  2. To kill savagely, butcher, massacre.[2][4][1][5]
  3. (figurative) To ruin.[2][1]

Word family

  • contrucīdō
  • trucīdātiō
  • trucidator

Usage notes

Döderlein groups it with the verbs for killing: interficere and perimere are the general words, however the death is caused.[7]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Trucido.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/trucido. Accessed 19 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·