It's really cool to see "reduce" used this way. I've never seen it like this in English, but it makes perfect sense.

"duce" is from "ducere" which means "to lead." "reduce" is "to lead again."

Actually, now that I ponder it, I'm having trouble seeing the metaphor we employ when we use it today.

Edit: Holy smokes ok so the metaphor is "leading back to a more primordial state." Fascinating.