Re:The Birth of New Spain
by dragonwriter on Tuesday July 21, 2020 @11:05PM
(#23913515)
> Decimation” is the death of 1 of 10.
No, the primary modern definition is “kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage or part of.”
Etymologically, it comes from the name of a Roman punitive practice of deliberately killing one in ten of a group as a form of collective punishment of the group, but outside the context of describing that specific practice it is pretty much never used to refer to the death of 1/10 of a group.
No, the primary modern definition is “kill, destroy, or remove a large percentage or part of.”
Etymologically, it comes from the name of a Roman punitive practice of deliberately killing one in ten of a group as a form of collective punishment of the group, but outside the context of describing that specific practice it is pretty much never used to refer to the death of 1/10 of a group.