Internecine (Adjective)

Definition 1: Aimed at total destruction; mutually destructive; pertaining to a struggle within an entity, such as a nation or organization.

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Usage 1: Today's word exemplifies the mischief dictionaries can do to language. The prefix inter– in today's word was used in Latin as an intensifier meaning "completely" rather than as a prefix with its usual meaning "mutual, between." Samuel Johnson mistook the prefix, and defined the word as "endeavoring mutual destruction." Johnson's dictionary was so popular, however, that his error became accepted usage. Later on, due to yet another misinterpretation of the prefix, the meaning slipped even further when it began to refer to internal struggle of any magnitude.

Suggested usage: Today, however, we cannot escape the semantic slippage of "internecine;" it is ingrained in the language. To speak of World War II as an internecine war would be taken as a reference to a mutually destructive war among nations inside the same continent. The new Department of Homeland Security was created, among other reasons, to reduce the internecine competition between the various security agencies of the federal government.

Etymology: From Latin internecinus "massively destructive" from internecare "to slaughter," based on nex (nec-s) "death," an e-variant of Proto-Indo-European (PIE) *nok-/*nek- "death." The o-grade form is found in nocent "harmful, guilty," the rarely used antonym of "innocent," and in nocuous "harmful," another rarity sitting in plain view inside "innocuous." Both are from the Latin verb nocere "to harm or injure." "Noxious" alone or in "obnoxious" derives from Latin noxa (nok-s-a)"injury, damage." The e-grade form also turns up in Greek nekros "corpse, body," underlying the other word for cemetery, necropolis "city of the dead." Nectar, the drink of the gods, comes from PIE *nek "death" + *tar "overcoming," the drink that overcame death, and "nectarine" derives from "nectar." (We are grateful today to Dr. Richard R. Everson for spotting the slide of today's word from its original meaning.)

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