Contemporary examples of DECIMATE used in prescriptivist sense

Tue Jan 8 02:04:11 UTC 2008

At 8:15 PM -0500 1/7/08, RonButters at AOL.COM wrote:
>I found these in about ten minutes using Google. It is just not the case that
>DECIMATE is never used in its etymological sense today.

So can we say based on these cites that the strict/etymological sense
of "decimate" is 'kill either 10% or 90% of'?  Seems like a very
useful verb.

LH

>See the following (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/10/18/unisys_q3/):
>
>
>Unisys to decimate workforce after poor Q3
>Come in number ten, your time is up
>
>By Joe Fay ? More by this author
>Published Tuesday 18th October 2005 14:56 GMT
>s/Design/include/_default$ cvs update -p -r.19 article_t Watch online now -
>The findings of The Register's Virtualization Study
>Unisys admitted a dismal third quarter yesterday and promptly promised Wall
>St it would dump 10 per cent of its workers over the next year.
>The company said hammering down its headcount would cost $250m to $300m over
>the course of 2006, but would result in an analyst-pleasing $250m of savings
>on an annual basis by the end of 2007.
>Revenues in the quarter ending September 30 were $1.39bn, down from $1.45bn a
>year ago. Operating losses were $76.2m compared to last year's $38m
>shortfall, while net loss was $54.3m, compared to a $25.2m profit a year ago.
>The revenue shortfall was entirely down to the firm's technology business,
>which saw revenues slump from $298.6m a year ago to $213.1m.
>Unisys said the Q3 numbers reflected weakness in its high-end server
>business, while its services business saw lower than expected revenues,
>under-utilization of personnel and higher implementation costs in
>project business and "
>continuing issues" in two challenging outsourcing operations.
>Unisys's current workforce is around 36,000. A year ago it announced plans to
>cut 1,400 staff.
>
>In a message dated 1/7/08 7:30:52 PM, douglas at NB.NET writes:
>
>and this
>(http://www.worldhistoryblog.com/2006/11/did-julius-caesar-decimate-legion.html):
>
>The Caesar episode recounts the story of the 9th Legions mutiny during the
>Great Roman Civil War. Some of the men wanted to be discharged but most wanted
>more pay. The episode shows a stern Caesar order the 9th to be decimated.
>Decimation was a rarely used form of punishment. Jona Lendering at
>Livius described
>this, "After a very serious offense (e.g., mutiny or having panicked), the
>commander of the commander of a legion would take the decision, and an officer
>would go to the subunit that was to be punished. By lot, he chose one in ten
>men for capital punishment. The surviving nine men were ordered to
>club the man
>to death. "
>
>The Battle for Rome episode shows the 9th being decimated while a grim faced
>Caesar looks on. The scene is very powerful as we see a man being beaten to
>death while another looks on knowing he is next. However, the story
>is not true.
>This television show is wrong.
>
>Caesar never ordered that the 9th be decimated. They did indeed mutiny
>demanding more pay. Caesar went to the soldiers.
>
>Adrian Goldsworthy in Caesar: Life of a Colossus describes what happened, "He
>(Caesar) then announced that he intended to decimate the Ninth, an ancient
>punishment that involved selecting by lot one out of every ten men
>to be beaten
>to death by his comrades. The remainder of the legion would be dishonourably
>discharged from the army. The veteran soldiers were dismayed and
>their officers
>began to beg their stern commander for mercy. Caesar knew how to work a crowd
>and gradually gave ground, finally saying that 12o ringleaders would need to
>draw lots to choose twelve men to be executed. The selection is supposed to
>have been rigged to ensure the names of the main troublemakers were drawn" (p.
>407).
>
>>  ==========
>>
>>  "Decimate" = "kill 90%":
>>
>>  ----------
>>
>>  http://books.google.com/books?id=YUALAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA161&
>  >
>dq=decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3#PPA161,M1
>>
>>  1837: <<He had the men of Normandy also brought to Gedefort, and
>  > decimated them; and when the tenth was set apart, hear what felony
>>  they committed! they decimated that tenth once more, because it
>>  appeared too many to save.>>
>>
>>  ----------
>>
>>  http://books.google.com/books?id=fjEIAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA90&
>>  dq=decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3
>>
>>  1853: <men, but even women and children as well, were decimated, and nine
>>  were put to death, while the tenth was reserved alive: ....>>
>>
>  > This is supposedly translated from Latin: I wonder how it read in Latin.
>>
>>  ----------
>>
>>  There are more.
>>
>>  ==========
>>
>>  "Decimate" = "kill some particular proportion", I think probably =
>>  "kill 10%": non-military:
>>
>>  ----------
>>
>>  http://books.google.com/books?id=g8FdSmhLVZYC&pg=PA244&
>>  dq=decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3
>>
>>  1866: <<The pilgrim bands were at once decimated, and more than decimated.>>
>>
>>  Reference is to cholera.
>>
>>  ----------
>>
>>  http://books.google.com/books?id=0XkAAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA592&
>>  dq=decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=3
>>
>>  1867: <<... and when Pestilence followed close upon the heels of
>>  Famine, and more than decimated, or twice decimated, the miserable
>>  population; ....>>
>>
>>  Reference is to potato famine.
>>
>>  ----------
>>
>>  There are more.
>>
>>  Here's a good one:
>>
>>  http://books.google.com/books?id=1F6tl8hQ2q8C&pg=PA10&
>>
>>dq=%22one+in+ten%22+decimate+OR+decimates+OR+decimated+date:1660-1870&lr=&num=100&as_brr=0
>>
>>  1866: <<In fact, during his occupation of Vera Cruz from 1858 to
>>  1860, he proved an epidemic many degrees more fatal to churches than
>>  the yellow fever, which decimates the population in the summer
>>  months. For the yellow fever merely takes off one in ten, whereas
>>  Juarez destroyed the nine and left the one.>>
>>
>>  ==========
>>
>>  -- Doug Wilson
>>
>>
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