convene

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English convenen,^[2][3] borrowed partly borrowed from Anglo-Norman convenir and Middle French convenir (“to fit together; to come together, meet; to agree”),^[4][3][5] and partly directly borrowed from Latin conveniō (“to come together, assemble; to agree, suit”).^[4][2][6][7] The Anglo-Norman verb is recorded from 1113–19, already meaning to come together and to agree.^[8] The Latin verb is formed from com- (“together”) and veniō (“to come”),^[4][9][10] from Proto-Indo-European *gʷā- (“to go, come”).^[9][11] The OED compares Old Occitan convenir, Catalan convenir, Spanish convenir and Italian convenire, all with a similar range of senses.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of people, to come together for a meeting; to assemble: 1429, in a document printed in Rymer's Fœdera, where four persons of each party "shal convene and assemble togidder".^[4][2] Barnhart dates the word to about 1425, in Scottish use.^[5][12]

Semantic evolution

Many of the early records are Scottish, and so is the legal sense, to summon a person to appear before a court (1465).^[4] The transitive sense, to call people together, is recorded from 1539 in the OED,^[4] while Etymonline dates it to the 1590s.^[9] Weekley explained it by the double use of verbs such as assemble and gather, which can be both transitive and intransitive.^[13] Johnson (1755) defined it as to call together, assemble or convoke.^[14] Following the Latin and French verbs, convene also meant to agree, from 1461 until the mid 17th century,^[4][2] and in Scots to correspond or be suitable.^[4] Of things, it has meant to come together or combine since the early 16th century, and to coincide since about 1541, both now rare.^[4][6] Scots and northern dialects kept the sense "to assemble, meet", and a separate convene meaning "to be convenient" was used in Scotland and New England.^[15]

Timeline

• 1429 – of people, to come together, assemble.^[4][2]
• 1461 – to agree (obsolete by 1652).^[4][2]
• 1465 – Scottish, to summon to appear before a court.^[4]
• before 1513 – of things, to join together, combine.^[4]
• 1539 – transitive, to call together, convoke.^[4][9]
• c. 1541 – to coincide.^[4]
• 1601 – of an assembly or court, to meet as a body.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come together formally, as for a meeting: The council convenes every Tuesday.^[16][3][4]
2. To call together or summon a group or meeting; to convoke: The chairman convened a special session.^[16][3][4]
3. To order someone to appear before a court or tribunal.^[16][4]
4. Of things, to come together or occur at the same time.^[3][4]
5. (obsolete, 1461–1652) To agree.^[4][2]

Word family

• convener
• unconvened
• reconvene

Related words

• convenience
• convenient
• convention
• conventional
• supervene
• convent
• covenant
• venue
• come
• convoke

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
6. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
11. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
12. ^ Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins