Etymologically
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adaequo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [aˈdae̯.kʷoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [aˈdɛː.kʷo][1]

Forms

adaequō (present infinitive adaequāre, perfect active adaequāvī, supine adaequātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + aequō (“to make equal, level”).[2][1][3] aequō comes from aequus (“level, equal”), which de Vaan reconstructs as *aikwos but for which he finds no convincing etymology.[4] It survives in Old French aiwer.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest examples in the OLD and TLL are from Cicero and Caesar: Cicero says that Pompey matched his fortune to his valour.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is to make equal in height, to level with: Caesar has siege works raised to the height of a town's walls, and Livy has the Romans levelling every house to the ground, adaequāre solō.[2][3] Cicero uses it of making the memory of a name last as long as all posterity, and of a man placed on a level with someone's closest friends.[2] Intransitively it is to come up to the level of something, or to equal a speed or range: Caesar has heaps of weapons almost reaching the top of a wall, and Tacitus spears that carried further than arrows shot back could reach.[2] Of votes it means to be equally divided, as when Cicero reports that the knights' urn was evenly split.[2][3] The Vulgate uses it of levelling a wall to the earth.[3] Church Latin glosses it equalize, make adequate, level with.[5]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of matching fortune to valour.[2][3][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of siege works level with the walls.[2][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of levelling houses to the ground.[2][6]
  • 1610s – English adequate comes from its participle.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make equal or level with; adaequāre solō, to raze to the ground.[2][8][5][1]
  2. To put on an equal footing; to treat as equal; to compare.[2][1]
  3. To come up to the level of; to equal a speed, range or number.[2][1]
  4. Of votes, to be equally divided; to be on a par.[2]
  5. To equal in status or quality; to do justice to.[2]

Word family

  • adaequātiō
  • adaequē

References

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