Etymologically
Log in

accommodo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 18:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [akˈkɔm.mɔ.doː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [akˈkɔm.mo.do][1]

Forms

accommodō (present infinitive accommodāre, perfect active accommodāvī, supine accommodātum); first conjugation[1] It is also spelled adcommodō, which Lewis & Short prefer.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + commodō (“to make fit; to lend”), as the TLL and the OLD explain it;[2][4] Festus already connected it with modus (“measure”).[2][4] The verb commodō is from commodus (“fit, convenient”), com- with modus, which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *medo- (“measure”) and Proto-Indo-European *med-o- (“measure”).[5][6] Cognate with Umbrian mers (“law”) and Oscan meddíss (“magistrate”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[5] who in the Trinummus speaks of fitting a shield to one's back.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to fit or fasten on, attach or apply, as Caesar's soldiers who had no time to fit on their insignia, and to fit together, as Cato's olive mill.[2][3] It also means to make to agree in time or amount, to make words agree in form, as Varro has it, and to link one thing with another.[2] More generally it is to make suitable, fit or adapt, and with a reflexive pronoun to adapt oneself, as Cicero's speakers who wholly shape and adapt themselves to the wishes of their hearers.[2][3] Lewis & Short note that it is very frequent in good prose, especially in Cicero.[3] It also means to provide or lend, and reflexively to devote oneself, as Cicero's men who have devoted themselves to the state and great affairs.[2]

Church Latin glosses it to adjust, incline, accommodate, put on, fit.[7] English formed accommodate from its participle in the 1530s.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of fitting a shield to the back.[3][5][8]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of assembling an olive mill.[2][8]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of fitting on insignia.[2][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of adapting oneself and devoting oneself to the state.[2][8]
  • 1530s – English forms accommodate from it.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fit or fasten on, attach, apply; to fit together, assemble.[2][3][7][1]
  2. To make agree in time, amount or form; to link with.[2]
  3. To make suitable, adapt, adjust; reflexively, to adapt oneself, comply.[2][3][1]
  4. To make available, provide, lend; reflexively, to devote oneself, lend one's support.[2][1]

Word family

  • accommodātiō
  • peraccommodātus
  • superaccommodo
  • accommodātē
  • accommodātus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  6. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de