tundo

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈtʊn.doː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtun.do]^[1]

Forms

tundō (present infinitive tundere, perfect active tutudī or tūsī, supine tūnsum or tūssum or tūsum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *(s)tund-e/o- (“to thrust”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tu-n-d- (“to thrust”), a present with a nasal infix from the root *(s)tewd-.^[2][1][3]

Cognate with Old Irish do·tuit (“falls”), Sanskrit तुदति (tudáti, “thrusts”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌿𐍄𐌰𐌽 (stautan, “to push”) and German stoßen (“to push”).^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[2][4] who asks why the woodpecker is pecking at the elm.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It meant to beat with repeated blows, to thump or buffet, as Cicero's striking someone's eyes and sides, and women beating their breasts in Virgil.^[3][5] It meant to pound or crush ingredients to a powder, as Vitruvius' pounded potsherds.^[3]

Eandem incudem tundere, “to hammer the same anvil”, was Cicero's phrase for doing the same thing over and over.^[5] Figuratively it meant to keep on at someone, to harangue.^[1] Its compound contundere gave English contusion.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a woodpecker pecking.^[3][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses eandem incudem tundere.^[5][4]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of pounded potsherds.^[3][4]
• c. 1400 – English contusion comes from its compound.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To beat, strike, thump, buffet.^[3][1]
2. To pound, crush, bruise.^[3][1]
3. To keep on at, harangue.^[1]

Word family

• contundō
• dētundō
• extundō
• intundo
• obtundō
• pertundō
• retundō
• subtundō
• tudes
• fustitudinus

Related words

• English contusion

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ 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
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com