castigate

castigate

English

WOTD – 17 February 2008

Etymology

Early 17th cent., borrowed from Latin castīgātus, past participle of castīgō (“I reprove”), from castus (“pure, chaste”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱes- (“cut”)[1][2]. Doublet of chastise and chasten, taken through Old French. See also chaste.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈkæs.tɪ.ɡeɪt/, /ˈkæs.tə.ɡeɪt/

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Verb

castigate (third-person singular simple present castigates, present participle castigating, simple past and past participle castigated)

1. (transitive, formal) To punish or reprimand someone severely.
   • 1999, Robert P. Gordon, I & II Samuel: A Commentary, Zondervan, p. 264:

     Perhaps disarmed by his own scandalous behaviour with Bathsheba, he was in no position to castigate his son for a similar fault.

2. (transitive, formal) To execrate or condemn something in a harsh manner, especially by public criticism.
   • 1951, Geoffrey Chaucer; Nevill Coghill, transl., The Canterbury Tales: Translated into Modern English (Penguin Classics), Penguin Books, published 1977, page 261:

     The curse of avarice and cupidity / Is all my sermon, for it frees the pelf. / Out come the pence, and specially for myself, / For my exclusive purpose is to win / And not at all to castigate their sin.

   • 2016, Halil Berktay, Suraiya Faroqhi, New Approaches to State and Peasant in Ottoman History, Routledge, p. 150:

     But despite all this, for Barkan, the universalist notion of an 'Ottoman feudalism' was anathema: he castigated this idea as the concentrated expression of the anti-Ottomanism of the Kemalist Enlightenment.

   • 2001, Klaus R. Scherer, Angela Schorr, Tom Johnstone, Appraisal Processes in Emotion: Theory, Methods, Research, Oxford University Press, p. 59:

     Lewis should have castigated the reasoning employed rather than the emotion, which offers no clue as to which side of the argument a person will adopt.

   • 2012, James King, Under Foreign Eyes: Western Cinematic Adaptations of Postwar Japan, John Hunt Publishing, p. 1:

     From the outset, this issue becomes an often double-edged sword wherein Japan is both valorized and castigated.

3. (transitive, rare) To revise or make corrections to a publication.

Synonyms

• (to punish severely): chastise, punish, rebuke, reprimand
• (to criticize severely): condemn, lambaste
• (to revise a publication): correct, revise
• See also Thesaurus:reprehend

Translations

to punish or reprimand someone severely

Bulgarian: (строго) наказвам (bg) (nakazvam), порицавам (bg) (poricavam) French: châtier (fr) Galician: castigar (gl), reprender (gl) German: bestrafen (de), strafen (de) Indonesian: menegur (id), mengecam (id) Latin: castīgō Polish: (srogo) karcić (pl) impf, strofować (pl) impf Portuguese: repreender (pt), castigar (pt) Quechua: maqay Russian: (жесто́ко) кори́ть (ru) impf (korítʹ), нака́зывать (ru) impf (nakázyvatʹ), кара́ть (ru) impf (karátʹ) Slovak: karhať impf, dohovárať impf Spanish: reprender (es), castigar (es) Swedish: tukta (sv)

to criticize something severely

Bulgarian: (остро) осъждам (bg) (osǎždam), критикувам (bg) (kritikuvam) Indonesian: mencela (id), mengkritik (id), mengecam (id) Polish: (ostro) potępiać (pl) impf, krytykować (pl) impf, piętnować (pl) impf Portuguese: criticar duramente, criticar severamente Russian: (жесто́ко) осужда́ть (ru) impf (osuždátʹ), критикова́ть (ru) impf (kritikovátʹ) Slovak: odsudzovať impf, ostro kritizovať impf Spanish: criticar duramente, criticar severamente, censurar (es)

to revise a publication

French: réviser (fr), corriger (fr) German: revidieren (de), korrigieren (de) Polish: poprawić (pl) pf, korygować (pl) impf

References

1. Tower of Babel, Indo-European Etymological Database
2. Wordsmith etymology of castigate

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Italian

Adjective

castigate

1. feminine plural of castigato

Participle

castigate f pl

1. feminine plural of castigato

Verb

castigate

1. inflection of castigare:
   1. second-person plural present indicative
   2. second-person plural imperative

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Latin

Verb

castīgāte

1. second-person plural present active imperative of castīgō

References

• “castigate”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press