campio

Forms

campiō m (genitive campiōnis); third declension^[1] Early medieval spellings include camphio, camfio and campo.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin campus (“field, field of battle”) according to the TLL, Niermeyer, Köbler and Conte.^[4][5][2][6] Wiktionary instead takes it from Frankish *kampijō, from a verb meaning “to fight”, from Proto-West Germanic *kamp (“field of battle”), which was itself borrowed from the Latin noun.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The Edict of Rothari (643) uses it for a judicial combat and for the fighter in it: an accused man may clear himself per camfionem, id est per pugnam, “by a champion, that is by fighting”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Glossaries explain it as pugna and the plural as gladiatores, pugnatores “gladiators, fighters”.^[4] In the laws of the Lombards, Bavarians and Frisians it is the champion in a judicial duel, often a substitute fighting for another,^[5][3][2] and it was also used of a single combat that decided a battle between armies, and of any fighter.^[3] In England the campio of judicial combat appears from about 1160, and Glanvill mentions champions hired for pay.^[7]

It survives in Italian campione, Catalan campió and Old French champion,^[1][6] from which English took champion in the early 13th century.^[8] Etymonline adds that Old English had borrowed the word earlier as Old English cempa.^[8]

Timeline

• 643 – The Edict of Rothari uses it of a judicial combat.^[2][3]
• c. 1160 – British records mention champions appearing on a set day.^[7]
• early 13th century – English borrows champion from Old French.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A fighter, gladiator.^[4][2][1]
2. (Medieval Latin, law) A champion in a judicial duel, often a substitute for one of the parties.^[5][3][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A judicial duel.^[2][3]

Related words

• English champion

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f g Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com