copula

Etymology

It is borrowed from Latin cōpula (“bond, link, connection”),^{[2][3][4][5][6]} which stands for an earlier *co-apula,^[5] formed with co- (“together”) and a diminutive suffix on the stem of apiō (“to fasten, join”).^[5][4][7][8] Etymonline reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *ko-ap-, from *ko(m)- (“together”) and *ap- (“to take, reach”).^[9] The Latin word also gave couple, through French, a doublet of copula,^[3][5][9] and is the source of copulate.^[9][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The link between subject and predicate: 1619 according to Barnhart and the Merriam-Webster Unabridged.^[3][10] The Shorter Oxford and the Oxford Dictionary of English also say the early 17th century,^[11][8] but the OED entry, published in 1893 and not fully revised, starts at 1649, in H. Hammond,^[4] and Etymonline and Dictionary.com have the 1640s.^[9][12]

Semantic evolution

The word came in as a technical term of logic and grammar, the part of a proposition that connects subject and predicate;^[4] Johnson (1755) defined it so, with the example books are dear.^[13] The Latin word already meant the linking of words.^[8][11] The general sense "connection, link" follows in 1656.^[4] It was then used for a connecting part of the body (1681, in a table of hard words; the Shorter Oxford calls this now rare or obsolete),^[4][11] an organ coupler (1852) and a short connecting passage in music (1880).^[4] In 1864 it appears for sexual union, as a term of Roman law.^[4] Collins and the Merriam-Webster Unabridged extend it beyond be to verbs such as seem and taste, which can have some meaning of their own.^[6][10]

Timeline

• 1619 – the link between subject and predicate of a proposition; a linking verb.^[3][10] The OED's first record of this sense is from 1649.^[4]
• 1656 – a connection, a link.^[4]
• 1681 – in anatomy, a part connecting other parts.^[4]
• 1852 – a coupler in an organ.^[4]
• 1864 – sexual union, as a term of Roman law.^[4]
• 1880 – in music, a short connecting passage.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar) A verb, such as be, seem or taste, that links the subject of a sentence with its complement: in the soup smells good, smells is a copula.^[6][10][4]
2. (logic) The link between the subject and the predicate of a proposition.^[10][6][4]
3. Something that connects; a link.^[10][6][4]
4. (anatomy, rare) A part, such as a bone or ligament, that connects other parts.^[4][11]
5. (music) A short connecting passage; a codetta.^[4]
6. (law) Sexual union, as a term of Roman law.^[4]

Word family

• copular

Related words

• couple
• coupling
• copulate
• copulation
• copulative
• apt

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
3. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
6. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
7. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b c Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
12. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
13. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.