coaequo

Forms

coaequō (present infinitive coaequāre, perfect active coaequāvī, supine coaequātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + aequō (“to make level, make equal”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives aequō from the adjective aequus (“level, equal”), probably from a form ⟨*aikwos⟩, for which he finds no convincing etymology.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Cato,^[5] who uses it in the De agricultura of levelling a threshing floor.^[6][7][8]

Semantic evolution

In its literal sense it is used of levelling ground: Sallust has montēs coaequāre, to level mountains, Columella of levelling clods and furrows, and an inscription of levelling a small shrine.^[2][6][9] Figuratively it means to put on the same level or treat as equal: Cicero uses it of treating everything alike, and the second letter to Caesar attributed to Sallust of making everyone's favour equal.^[2][9] A public law uses it of adjusting measures by the official weights.^[2] In Augustine it means to compare, and Stelten gives the Church Latin senses “make equal, fill up, rank with”.^[9][10] Medieval writers used it of levelling a forest and of demolishing, of smoothing, and of dividing equally, and also in mathematics and music.^[11]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of levelling a threshing floor.^[6][8]
• 86–34 BC – Sallust uses it of levelling mountains.^[2][9][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of treating everything alike.^[9][8]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of comparing.^[9][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make level, to level.^[2][6]
2. To regard or treat as equal, to equate.^[2][9]
3. To adjust by weighing.^[2]
4. (Late Latin) To compare.^[9]
5. (Medieval Latin) To level to the ground, demolish; to divide equally; to make smooth.^[11]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
9. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
11. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften