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Origin and history of excision

excision(n.)

"the act of full or partial cutting off or away by surgical operation," especially of a small, diseased part of the body, late 15c. (Caxton), from Old French excision (14c.) and directly from Latin excisionem (nominative excisio) "a destroying," noun of action from past-participle stem of excidere "to cut out; destroy," from ex "out" (see ex-) + -cidere, combining form of caedere "to cut down" (from PIE root *kae-id- "to strike").

also from late 15c.

Entries linking to excision

ex-

word-forming element, in English meaning usually "out of, from," but also "upwards, completely, deprive of, without," and "former;" from Latin ex "out of, out from the interior of a thing" (in opposition to in), "from within; from which time, since; according to; in regard to." This is reconstructed to be from PIE *eghs "out" (source also of Gaulish ex-, Old Irish ess-, Old Church Slavonic izu, Russian iz). In some cases also from Greek cognate ex, ek.

Often reduced to e- before -b-, -d-, -g-, consonantal -i-, -l-, -m-, -n-, -v- (as in elude, emerge, evaporate, etc.).

The sense in Latin naturally tended toward "thoroughly, utterly," and in some English ex- words with no clear connection to the idea of "out of," the element might be purely intensive. Among them are exhort, exhilarate, evident, excruciate, exclaim, exuberant, exaggerate, expiate, expect.

For use of Latin ex- as "(rise) up out of," as preserved in English emerge, emend, the notion is "out from the interior of a thing," in opposition to in-. Hence also in Latin, "in an upward direction," as in effervesce, exult, extol.

PIE *eghs had comparative form *eks-tero and superlative *eks-t(e)r-emo-.

*kae-id-

*kaə-id-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "to strike."

It might form all or part of: abscise; avicide; biocide; caesarian; caesura; cement; chisel; -cide; circumcise; circumcision; concise; decide; decision; deicide; excise (v.); excision; felicide; feticide; filicide; floricide; fratricide; fungicide; gallinicide; genocide; germicide; herbicide; homicide; incise; incision; incisor; infanticide; insecticide; legicide; liberticide; libricide; matricide; parricide; patricide; pesticide; precise; precision; prolicide; scissors; senicide; spermicide; suicide; uxoricide; verbicide.

It might also be the source of: Sanskrit skhidati "beats, tears;" Latin caedere "to strike down, fell, slay;" Lithuanian kaišti "shave;" Armenian xait'em "to stab;" Albanian qeth "to shave;" Middle Dutch heien "to drive piles," Old High German heia "wooden hammer," German heien "beat."

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    cut
    c. 1300, "to make, with an edged tool or instrument, an incision in; make incisions for the purpose of dividing into two or more parts; remove by means of a cutting instrument;" of an implement, "have a cutting edge," according to Middle English Compendium from a presumed Old Eng
    excommunication
    "a cutting off or casting out from communication, deprivation of communion or the privileges of intercourse," specifically the formal exclusion of a person from religious communion and privileges, mid-15c., from Late Latin excommunicationem (nominative excommunicatio), noun of ac
    ablation
    early 15c., "a carrying or taking away," in medicine, "mechanical removal of something harmful from the body," from Latin ablationem (nominative ablatio), "a taking away," noun of action from past-participle stem of auferre "to carry away," from ab "off, away from" (see ab-) + th
    curtail
    General sense of "deprive by excision or removal" is from 1580s....
    redaction
    "act of reducing to order and editing for publication," 1785, from French rédaction "a compiling; a working over, editing; editorial staff" (late 17c.), noun of action or state from past-participle stem of Latin redigere "to drive back, force back; bring back; collect, call in; b
    proscription
    late 14c., proscripcioun, "decree of condemnation, outlawry, sentence of exile, the dooming of a citizen to death as a public enemy and confiscation of his goods," from Latin proscriptionem (nominative proscriptio) "a public notice (of sale); proscription, outlawry, confiscation,
    surgery
    c. 1300, sirgirie, "the work of a surgeon; medical treatment of an operative nature, such as cutting-operations, setting of fractures, etc.," from Old French surgerie, surgeure, contraction of serurgerie, from Late Latin chirurgia "surgery," from Greek kheirourgia, from kheirourg
    pull
    c. 1300 (mid-13c. in surnames), "to move or try to move forcibly by pulling, to drag forcibly or with effort," from Old English pullian "to pluck off (wool), to draw out," a word of unknown origin, perhaps related to Low German pulen "remove the shell or husk," Frisian pûlje "to
    operation
    late 14c., "action, performance, work," also "the performance of some science or art," from Old French operacion "operation, working, proceedings," from Latin operationem (nominative operatio) "a working, operation," noun of action from past-participle stem of operari "to work, l
    cutting
    c. 1400, "penetrating or dividing by an edge," present-participle adjective from cut (v.). As "wounding or deeply affecting the feelings," 1580s. Related: Cuttingly. Cutting-edge is by 1825 in the literal sense "cutting surface of a blade or tool" (often at first with reference t

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