Etymologically
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coarto

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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

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