Translation inflation: “Decimate” more than 10%

5 comments May 7th, 2008

Continuing the theme of “English isn’t Latin,” the standard definition of “decimate” is “to destroy or kill a large part of.”

Yes, the “deci-” comes from the Latin for “ten,” and the word comes from the Roman approach to military discipline in which one in 10 soldiers were randomly chosen to be slain to teach the survivors a lesson.

Thankfully, that practice has disappeared, and so has the necessity of preserving the “one-tenth” aspect of “decimate.”

However, the word should not be used as a substitute for “destroy” (it isn’t that heavy) or in references to trivial injuries or setbacks (it isn’t that light).