coarto

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [koˈar.toː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [koˈar.to]^[1]

Forms

coartō (present infinitive coartāre, perfect active coartāvī, supine coartātum); first conjugation^[1] Manuscripts often spell it coarctō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + artō (“to press close together”), from artus “tight”.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation for crowding together is Cicero.^[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant to make narrower, as in Livy; to crowd or pack together, confine, hem in, as in Cicero; to shorten in time, as in Tacitus; and in legal Latin to constrain, compel.^[2][3]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of confining.^[2][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of narrowing.^[2][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of shortening time.^[2][4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make narrower, compress.^[2][3]
2. To crowd together, confine.^[2]
3. To shorten (in time).^[2]
4. To constrain, compel.^[2]

Word family

• coartātiō

Related words

• artō
• artus
• English coarctate

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de