noceo

From Proto-Italic *nokeō, from earlier *nokejō, from Proto-Indo-European *noḱ-éye-ti, causative of the root *neḱ- (“perish, disappear”). Cognate with Sanskrit नश्यति (naśyati, “disappear, perish”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈnɔ.ke.oː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈnɔː.t͡ʃe.o]

noceō (present infinitive nocēre, perfect active nocuī, supine nocitum); second conjugation

1. (with dative) to injure, do harm to, hurt, damage

   Synonyms: mulcō, feriō, sauciō, vulnerō, secō, īnfestō, laedō

   • c. 50 BCE, Publilius Syrus, Sententiae:

     Bonīs nocet quisquis pepercit malīs.

     He does harm to the good, whoever has been lenient to the bad

   • c. 4 BCE – 65 CE, Seneca the Younger, Epistulae Morales ad Lucilium 47.17:

     “Servus est.” Sed fortasse līber animō. “Servus est.” Hoc illī nocēbit?

     “He is a slave.” But perhaps he’s free in spirit. “He is a slave.” [Why] will this bring harm to that [man]?
     (Third-person singular future indicative verb nocēbit forms a question that takes the dative case for its object: illī.)

• The injury caused may be physical or emotional.

• In practice, the only passive forms met with in Latin are the third-person singular forms.

¹At least one use of the Old Latin "sigmatic future" and "sigmatic aorist" tenses is attested, which are used by Old Latin writers; most notably Plautus and Terence. The sigmatic future is generally ascribed a future or future perfect meaning, while the sigmatic aorist expresses a possible desire ("might want to").
²The present passive infinitive in -ier is a rare poetic form which is attested.

Reflexes of an assumed variant *nocĕre:^[1]

• Joan Coromines; José A[ntonio] Pascual (1985), “nucir”, in Diccionario crítico etimológico castellano e hispánico [Critical Castilian and Hispanic Etymological Dictionary]‎^[1] (in Spanish), volume IV (Me–Re), Madrid: Gredos, →ISBN, page 243

• “noceo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “noceo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “noceo”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.