ETYMOLOGY
from French amputer, from Latin amputare (to remove by cutting off)
EXAMPLE
“… The Blood of Christ, as purging away the guilt of sin, was represented in Circumsion as to be shed; but it is represented in Baptism as already shed, and applyed to the party baptized. The body of sin was represented in Circumcision under the notion of a superfluity to be amputed and cut off: ‘Tis represented in Baptism under the notion of a defilement or pollution, which is removed by washing. But the use of the one and the other in general was and is the same, namely to represent to the mind that way, and those means, by and through which the soul hath remission of sin, peace which God, and is brought to future Salvation. …”
From: An essay to revive the primitive doctrine and practice of Infant-Baptism
By Joseph Whiston, 1676
Lexicophilia 