dismember v.

active word-forming element in English and in many verbs inherited from French and Latin, from Latin de "down, down from, from, off; concerning" (see de), also used as a prefix in Latin, usually meaning "down, off, away, from among, down from," but also "down to the bottom, totally" hence "completely" (intensive or completive), which is its sense in many English words.

As a Latin prefix it also had the function of undoing or reversing a verb's action, and hence it came to be used as a pure privative — "not, do the opposite of, undo" — which is its primary function as a living prefix in English, as in defrost (1895), defuse (1943), de-escalate (1964), etc. In some cases, a reduced form of dis-.

c. 1300, "body part or organ, an integral part of an animal body having a distinct function" (in plural, "the body"), from Old French membre "part, portion; topic, subject; limb, member of the body; member" (of a group, etc.)," 11c., from Latin membrum "limb, member of the body, part," probably from PIE *mems-ro, from root *mems- "flesh, meat" (source also of Sanskrit mamsam "flesh;" Greek meninx "membrane," mēros "thigh" (the "fleshy part"); Gothic mimz "flesh").

In common use, "one of the limbs or extremities." Especially "the sex organ" (c. 1300, compare Latin membrum virile, but in English originally of women as well as men). Figurative sense of "anything likened to a part of the body" is by 14c., hence "a component part of any aggregate or whole, constituent part of a complex structure, one of a number of associated parts or entities."

The transferred sense of "person belonging to a group" is attested from mid-14c., from notion of "person considered in relation to an aggregate of individuals to which he or she belongs," especially one who has united with or been formally chosen as a corporate part of an association or public body. This meaning was reinforced by, if not directly from, the use of member in Christian theology and discourse from mid-14c. for "a Christian" (a "member" of the Church as the "Body of Christ"). Meaning "one who has been elected to parliament" is from early 15c.

"act of dismembering, state of being dismembered," 1751, from dismember + -ment. Earlier noun was dismembration (1590s), also dismembering (late 14c.).