The word expunge was first used in English around 1600.
Originally meaning "to delete," it was usually applied to words in a court record.
Expunge stems from expungere, a Latin word meaning to prick, as with a pin.
When an Ancient Roman soldier retired from service, a row of pin pricks was made below his name in the army records.
Today, we use expunge to mean “to remove completely; to obliterate; to destroy.”
The Ancient Romans also liked to condemn traitors by pronouncing damnatio memorial, literally "damnation of memory."
By pronouncing damnatio memorial, the Roman Senate would order that every trace of a traitor be deleted.
His property would be seized; his name erased from all documents; and his statues destroyed or reworked.
His property would be seized; his name erased from all documents; and his statues destroyed or reworked.
The traitor, in effect, never existed.
