comis

Forms

cōmis (neuter cōme, comparative cōmior, superlative cōmissimus, adverb cōmiter); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1] The Duenos inscription has the archaic spelling cosmis.^[2][1]

Etymology

The origin is uncertain.^[2][3][4] It is perhaps inherited from Proto-Italic *kom-smi-, from a root Proto-Indo-European *smi- (“to smile”), so that it would first have meant smiling along with someone.^[2][5] Eichner derives the archaic form ⟨cosmis⟩ from a verb *ko-smei- (“to contract the face to a smile”).^[2] Cognate with Sanskrit स्मयते (smáyate, “smiles”), Ancient Greek φιλομμειδής (philommeidḗs, “who likes to laugh”) and Latvian smiêt (“to laugh”).^[2][5] Varro derived the adverb cōmiter from Ancient Greek κῶμος (kômos, “revel”), the source of cōmissātiō.^[6][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its oldest form is in the Duenos inscription,^[2] and Köbler dates its first use in an inscription to the 4th century BC.^[7] In literature de Vaan finds it first in Naevius;^[2] the OLD's first example is Plautus' Trinummus, of a lover who becomes poor while he is kind to others.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It describes people who are kind, obliging and affable, as Cicero's definition of the friendly, generous, easy and pleasant, and Horace's good neighbour kind to his wife;^[5][4] it is also used of qualities and actions, such as Livy's friendly hospitality.^[5] A second sense is having good taste, elegant or cultured, as Cicero's verse on Terence's refined speech and Horace's “youth is graceless without you” addressed to Venus.^[5] Lewis & Short note that manuscripts often confuse it with commūnis.^[4] Its noun is cōmitās, already in Plautus.^[2]

Timeline

• 4th century BC – An inscription has it, as ⟨cosmis⟩.^[7][2]
• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.^[2][7]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a kind lover.^[5][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of affable people and of refined speech.^[5][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of a good neighbour and of graceless youth.^[5][7]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Of persons and their character, kind, obliging, affable, gracious; of actions and qualities, friendly.^[5][4][1]
2. Having good taste, elegant, cultured.^[5][1]

Word family

• cōmitās
• incomis
• percōmis

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ 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
6. ^ Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina (text of The Latin Library; book and paragraph numbers as there).
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de