http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=decimate dec-i-mate [des-uh-meyt] –verb (used with object), -mat⋅ed, -mat⋅ing. 1. to destroy a great number or proportion of: The population was decimated by a plague. 2. to select by lot and kill every tenth person of. 3. Obsolete. to take a tenth of or from. ----- Origin: 1590–1600; < L decimātus, ptp. of decimāre to punish every tenth man chosen by lot, v. deriv. of decimus tenth, deriv. of decem ten; see ate1
Usage note: The earliest English sense of decimate is “to select by lot and execute every tenth soldier of (a unit).” The extended sense “destroy a great number or proportion of” developed in the 19th century: Cholera decimated the urban population. Because the etymological sense of one-tenth remains to some extent, decimate is not ordinarily used with exact fractions or percentages: Drought has destroyed (not decimated) nearly 80 percent of the cattle.
It's always interesting to look further into things I never particularly thought about. Depending on how severely you disagree with usage determining definition, you could probably argue that "decimate" should only be used in the historical context of disciplining Roman troops...
You must love the French :) They have the Académie Française to regulate the French language, dictating what is considered acceptable grammar and vocabulary.
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ninetydegrees
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on 2009-04-01 08:44 pm (UTC)dec-i-mate [des-uh-meyt] –verb (used with object), -mat⋅ed, -mat⋅ing.
1. to destroy a great number or proportion of: The population was decimated by a plague.
2. to select by lot and kill every tenth person of.
3. Obsolete. to take a tenth of or from.
-----
Origin:
1590–1600; < L decimātus, ptp. of decimāre to punish every tenth man chosen by lot, v. deriv. of decimus tenth, deriv. of decem ten; see ate1
Usage note:
The earliest English sense of decimate is “to select by lot and execute every tenth soldier of (a unit).” The extended sense “destroy a great number or proportion of” developed in the 19th century: Cholera decimated the urban population. Because the etymological sense of one-tenth remains to some extent, decimate is not ordinarily used with exact fractions or percentages: Drought has destroyed (not decimated) nearly 80 percent of the cattle.
It's always interesting to look further into things I never particularly thought about. Depending on how severely you disagree with usage determining definition, you could probably argue that "decimate" should only be used in the historical context of disciplining Roman troops...
You must love the French :) They have the Académie Française to regulate the French language, dictating what is considered acceptable grammar and vocabulary.