extenuo Latin · revision 32584

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=ine-pro *tn̥h₂-(e)u-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ɛkˈstɛ.nu.oː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ekˈstɛː.nu.o]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''extenuō''' (present infinitive extenuāre, perfect active extenuāvī, supine extenuātum); first conjugation^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|ex-|tenuō|t2=to make thin]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) [[m|la|tenuō]] is from [[m|la|tenuis|t=thin]], which de Vaan traces to [[itc-pro|*tn̥(a)u-]] and [[ine-pro|*tn̥h₂-(e)u-|t=thin]].^(de Vaan 2008) He compares [[sa|तनु|tr=tanú-|t=thin, slender]], [[grc|ταναός|tr=tanaós|t=thin, elongated]] and [[lt|tę́vas|t=thin, slender]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Varro has a twig whittled down with a knife, and says that expense will not reduce the yield.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Cicero writes of air that rises when rarefied and gathers into clouds when it thickens.^(OLD 2012) In medicine Celsus advises the stout to reduce their bulk, and uses it of relieving a condition.^(OLD 2012) In rhetoric the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' calls the plain style ⟨extenuāta⟩.^(OLD 2012) It is also to make something seem less, to belittle: Cicero speaks of wanting to play down a charge.^(OLD 2012) Lucretius scans it with a consonantal ⟨u⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Church Latin also glosses it to weaken, punish, chasten.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|extenuate]] comes from its participle in the 1530s.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of whittling and of reducing yield.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of rarefied air and of belittling a charge.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 14–37 AD – Celsus of reducing the body.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1530s – English ''extenuate'', from the participle.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Verb===

+ # To make thin or narrow, whittle down;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''(medicine)'' to reduce the body.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To make less dense, [[m|en|rarefy]]; to thin a liquid.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # To [[m|en|diminish]], lessen;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''(medicine)'' to relieve;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''(rhetoric)'' to make plain or meagre.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To make out to be less important, [[m|en|belittle]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Ecclesiastical Latin)'' To weaken; to [[m|en|chasten]].^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[extenuātiō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tenuis]]

+ * [[attenuo|alt=attenuō]]

+ * [[en|extenuate]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}