comes

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈkɔ.mɛs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkɔː.mes]^[1]

Forms

comes m or f (genitive comitis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin com- (“together”) + eō (“to go”) + -es, “one who goes with”.^[2][3][4][1] De Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *kom-i-t- “going together”, with the root of “to go” enlarged by a Proto-Indo-European suffix *-t-, and explains the nominative -es as analogical after other t-stems.^[5] Comitium, the assembly place, and comitārī “to accompany” are derived from it.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[5][6] who calls Palaemon the holy companion of Neptune and uses it of attendants.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant a companion on a journey or in flight, even an abstract one (“with virtue as guide and fortune as companion”), a friend or comrade of humbler rank, a follower or soldier, a devotee of a god and an adherent of a school.^[2][3] Officially it was a member of the staff of a magistrate or governor and a retainer of an emperor or king, and privately an attendant or servant.^[2] It also meant a partner or sharer, a thing given along with another (a dowry), a concomitant (envy, the companion of virtue), and a phenomenon that comes at the same time.^[2]

In the late Empire it became a title of honour for court dignitaries, “companion of the ruler”, as in comes largitionum or comes rei militaris,^[7] and in the Middle Ages it was the word for a count, an earl, a margrave or an ealdorman, a vassal and a commander.^[6][1][7] Old French cuens and conte gave French comte, and Italian conte, Spanish and Portuguese conde continue it, as does Old French conestable from comes stabuli, the count of the stable.^[1][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a companion and of attendants.^[2][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of a man's attendants.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a magistrate's staff and of companions in flight.^[2][6]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of sharing in a victory.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of an adherent of the Stoics.^[2][6]
• c. 475 AD – The Code of Euric has the medieval sense.^[6]
• 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours uses it of a count.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A companion on a journey; a thing that goes along with another.^[2][3]
2. A friend, a comrade; a member of the same group.^[2]
3. A follower, a soldier; a devotee; an adherent.^[2]
4. A member of a magistrate's staff; a retainer of a ruler; an attendant, a servant.^[2][3]
5. A partner, a sharer; a concomitant.^[2]
6. (Late Latin) A court dignitary, “companion of the ruler”.^[7]
7. (Medieval Latin) A count, an earl; a margrave; a vassal; a commander.^[6][1][7]

Word family

• incomes
• abbacomes
• comitium
• comitō
• comitor

Related words

• eō
• pedes
• English count
• English county
• English constable

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 o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill