Letter 58 — On Being (§3)

“By which I infer that the word has gone out of use. And, not to keep you waiting too long, there were certain uncompounded words current, like cernere ferro inter se, as will be proved again by Vergil:— Great heroes, born in various lands, had come To settle matters mutually with the sword. This “settling matters” we now express by decernere. The plain word has become obsolete.”