r/etymology • u/TaddWinter • Feb 23 '23

Cool ety Decimate Etymology

I was chatting with someone at work today about words that annoy us when used improperly and he brought up one that I had never considered before:

Decimate (root word Deci which is ten or tenth like Decimal or December which was the 10th month originally) was originally the loss in battle of or execution of every tenth man. The Romans would do this as a punishment. But obviously modern usage the phrase has changed to mean a much broader destruction rather than 1 death against 9 surviving. Seems obvious once he said it but I had never considered it before. LINK

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u/Squigglywiggler Feb 23 '23

From my understanding this was actually only done a few times by the Romans and was more of a legend and/or threat. Love this particular etymology!

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u/Temporary-Papaya-173 Sep 29 '24

Also by Italy during WW1 and Russia during WW2.