conciseness n.

"comprehending much in few words," 1580s, from Latin concisus "cut off, brief," past participle of concidere "to cut off, cut up, cut through, cut to pieces," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see con-), + caedere "to cut" (from PIE root *kae-id- "to strike"). Related: Concisely.

Concise frequently refers to style, and signifies the expression of much in few words; succinct is generally applied to the matter, the less important things being omitted: thus a concise style or phrase, but a succinct narrative or account. [Century Dictionary]

word-forming element denoting action, quality, or state, attached to an adjective or past participle to form an abstract noun, from Old English -nes(s), from Proto-Germanic *in-assu- (cognates: Old Saxon -nissi, Middle Dutch -nisse, Dutch -nis, Old High German -nissa, German -nis, Gothic -inassus), from *-in-, originally belonging to the noun stem, + *-assu-, abstract noun suffix, probably from the same root as Latin -tudo (see -tude).

late 14c., "a cutting away, mutilation," also, from 16c., "circumcision," from Late Latin concisionem (nominative concisio) "a separation into divisions, a mutilation," literally "a cutting up," noun of action from past participle stem of Latin concidere "to cut off, cut up, cut through, cut to pieces," from assimilated form of com-, here perhaps an intensive prefix (see con-), + caedere "to cut" (from PIE root *kae-id- "to strike"). From 18c. it began to be used in the sense of conciseness (q.v.).

Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision. For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. [Philippians iii.2-3]

In Philippians iii.2 it translates Greek katatomē, a contemptuous substitution for the usual peritomē "circumcision," in reference to the Judaizing teachers who taught that Christian converts must first be circumcised.