I didn’t realize this was up for debate. I was taught in the 90s that smallpox (and many other communicable diseases) came over with Columbus and other 15th century colonists, causing devastation among countless communities which had no immunity.
The word they used was decimated, but that is only reducing the population by 10%. Wikipedia quotes a source that said up to 90% of populations were wiped out.
I never realized how much deci- played into the word decimate until this thread.
To me, the old definition makes sense if it’s before a battle or game, since a 10% difference is fairly sizable. After the event, if I heard a team was decimated though, I would immediately be thinking it’s a large difference.
Iirc the ancient meaning was actually a punishment for a terrible loss. They would draw lots and and on in 10 would be chosen. Then thier fellow soldiers would be selected to do the dirty work.
I didn’t realize this was up for debate. I was taught in the 90s that smallpox (and many other communicable diseases) came over with Columbus and other 15th century colonists, causing devastation among countless communities which had no immunity.
The word they used was decimated, but that is only reducing the population by 10%. Wikipedia quotes a source that said up to 90% of populations were wiped out.
Language evolves, decimate means vast destruction now.
Yeah, I guess I had gotten someone’s weird rant in my head.
I never realized how much deci- played into the word decimate until this thread.
To me, the old definition makes sense if it’s before a battle or game, since a 10% difference is fairly sizable. After the event, if I heard a team was decimated though, I would immediately be thinking it’s a large difference.
I always thought that decimation meant reducing the population to 10% of its original number.
I was wrong, but that’s what I thought.
Iirc the ancient meaning was actually a punishment for a terrible loss. They would draw lots and and on in 10 would be chosen. Then thier fellow soldiers would be selected to do the dirty work.