Italian

Adjective

decimo m ‎(feminine singular decima, masculine plural decimi, feminine plural decime)

1. tenth

Noun

decimo m ‎(plural decimi, feminine decima)

1. tenth (the one in tenth position)

decimo m ‎(plural decimi)

1. tenth (fraction)

Etymology 2

A regular conjugated form of decimare; compare the Latin decimō.

Verb

decimo

1. first-person singular present of decimare

Related terms

• deci-

See also

• Appendix:Italian numbers

Anagrams

• medico, medicò

References

1. ↑ “dieci” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, ISBN 978-88-00-20781-2

Latin

Etymology

From decimus ‎(“tenth”) +‎ -ō.^[1]

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈde.ki.moː/, [ˈdɛ.kɪ.moː]

Verb

decimō ‎(present infinitive decimāre, perfect active decimāvī, supine decimātum); first conjugation

1. To decimate (select every tenth person for punishment)
   • c. 100 CE – 110 CE, Tacitus, Histories 1.37

     horror animum subit quotiens recordor feralem introitum et hanc solam Galbae victoriam, cum in oculis urbis decimari deditos iuberet, quos deprecantis in fidem acceperat.

     Horror overtakes me when I think back to that gruesome entry [in Rome], which was Galba's only victory, when before the eyes of the city he ordered the prisoners to be decimated, after he had accepted their pleas for surrender.

   • 121 CE, Suetonius, De vita Caesarum Vita divi Augusti.24

     cohortes, si quae cessissent loco, decimatas hordeo pauit.

     Cohorts, if they hadn't stood their ground, he decimated and fed on barley.

   • 121 CE, Suetonius, De vita Caesarum Vita Caligulae.48

     prius quam provincia decederet, consilium iniit nefandae atrocitatis legiones, quae post excessum Augusti seditionem olim moverant, contrucidandi, quod et patrem suum Germanicum ducem et se infantem tunc obsedissent, vixque a tam praecipiti cogitatione revocatus, inhiberi nullo modo potuit quin decimare velle perseveraret.

     Before leaving the province, he formed a plan of unspeakable cruelty: to slaughter the legions that had once mutinied on Augustus's passing, because they had held both his father Germanicus, their commander, and himself as an infant captive at the time – and though he was with great effort talked out of such a rash thought, he could in no way be dissuaded from persevering in wanting to decimate them.

2. To pay tithes

Inflection

Synonyms

• decumo

Descendants

• Portuguese: dizimar, decimar

References

• decimo in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Félix Gaffiot (1934), “decimo”, in Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Paris: Hachette.

1. ↑ “dieci” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, ISBN 978-88-00-20781-2