OT Evidence for DECIMATE ( 'one in ten')

[Douglas G. Wilson]

A1884: <<when last they were quartered here they were twice-decimated
>>by cholera, and left a fifth of their regiment in the cemetery here.>>
>
>Just a slight quarrel here -- the writer of this needs a re-education
>in arithmetic.  Successive decimations leave 19 % in the cemetery.

I tentatively read "twice-decimated" as distinct from "twice
decimated". I take "twice-decimated" here as probably meaning exactly
"reduced by 20%" (with of course some leeway either way in casual
use) rather than as "reduced by 10% on each of two occasions". Maybe
I'm wrong, though.

There are several examples of "doubly decimate" which I think
probably meant "reduced by 20%" also, although some others seem to
use the imprecise/arbitrary "decimate" (with "doubly" maybe as an
imprecise intensifier in some cases?) and some others still appear to
mean "decimate twice in succession".

-- Doug Wilson


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