comma

Forms

comma n (genitive commatis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κόμμα (kómma, “clause; stamp, coin”),^[2][3][4] a noun from κόπτω (kóptō, “to strike, cut”), so that it means literally a piece cut off.^[1][5] Etymonline traces the verb perhaps to Proto-Indo-European *kop- (“to beat, strike”), or perhaps to Pre-Greek.^[5] Köbler gives the root as Proto-Indo-European *skē̆p- (“to cut, split”).^[6][7]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Varro on,^[8] who lived 116–27 BC,^[6] as a term of grammar and rhetoric for a short phrase, a division of a sentence smaller than a colon.^[8][2]

Semantic evolution

Cicero still wrote the term in Greek letters, and the native Latin equivalent was incīsum.^[3][8] Quintilian uses the word in Latin for a phrase or short member of a period, in prose or in verse.^[3][2] Later grammarians gave it two narrower senses: Donatus' commentary uses it for the punctuation mark,^[3] and Marius Victorinus for the caesura of a verse.^[3][1]

In medieval Latin it remained a term of grammar and rhetoric for a section of a text or a line of verse;^[9][10] British writers also used it for a definition and, perhaps by a misunderstanding of sententia, for a sentence or judgement.^[10] English took the word over as a Latin term in the 1520s and naturalised it as the name of the punctuation mark by the 1590s.^[5]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro has the word, the first Latin author the TLL records.^[8][6]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it for a short phrase of a period.^[3][6]
• c. 310–380 AD – In Donatus' commentary it is a mark of punctuation.^[3][6]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it.^[6][10]
• 1520s – English borrows it as a Latin word, naturalised by the 1590s.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (grammar, rhetoric) A phrase, a short member of a period or part of a line of verse.^[2][3]
2. (grammar) A comma, the mark of punctuation.^[3][1]
3. (prosody) A caesura.^[3][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) A section or passage of a text; a definition.^[9][10]

Word family

• commaticus

Usage notes

Medieval dictionaries also list an unrelated comma: Niermeyer and Du Cange treat it as a form of cumba, the MLW as a form of cymba.^[11][12][9]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
5. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Bern; Munich: Francke
8. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b c d Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
11. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
12. ^ du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre