trunco

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈtrʊŋ.kɔ]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtruŋ.ko]^[1]

Forms

truncō (present infinitive truncāre, perfect active truncāvī, supine truncātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from truncus “trunk; maimed” with the verb suffix -ō.^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short call it mostly poetic and post-Augustan; their earliest prose examples are from Livy, of mutilated statues of the gods.^[3] Köbler dates Livy 59 BC–17 AD.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to maim by cutting, mutilate, dismember, as Livy's statues and Tacitus' body hacked with wounds, to strip of branches or leaves, as Ovid's cabbage stripped of its leaves, and to shorten by chopping; in Seneca it meant to cut off a limb, amputate.^[2][3][5] Döderlein explains that truncāre is used of greater mutilations, cutting off arms, feet or the head, while mutilāre is used of smaller ones, a horn or a finger.^[6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to mutilate, cut off, shorten, deprive.^[7] English truncate was formed from the participle in the late 15th century, and Old French trenchier, from a Vulgar Latin *trincāre held to come from it, gave English trench.^[8]

Timeline

• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of mutilated statues.^[3][4]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of stripping leaves.^[3][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a body hacked with wounds.^[3][4]
• late 15th century – English truncate is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To maim, mutilate, dismember.^[2]
2. To strip of branches or leaves; to shorten by chopping.^[2]
3. To cut off, amputate.^[2]

Word family

• contruncō
• dētruncō
• distruncō
• obtruncō
• praetruncō

Related words

• trunculus
• truncus
• English truncate
• English trench

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from mutilō, which is used of lesser mutilations.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com