commater

Forms

commāter f (genitive commātris); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin com- (“with, together”) + māter (“mother”).^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the letters of Gregory the Great, who asks his correspondent not to let his monks make women their commatres, that is, godmothers bound to them through a baptism.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word belongs to the spiritual kinship created by baptism: it named the godmother in her relation to the child's parents or to the godfather, and the mother in her relation to the godfather.^[6][7] The Liber historiae Francorum has the line domina mea regina commater tua est, “my lady the queen is your fellow godmother”.^[7] A law collection, the Quadripartitus, forbids a man to marry his commater or a nun, and in 1102 a council forbade nuns to become godmothers.^[8]

In medieval Britain it also meant a female companion or gossip.^[8] Italian comare comes from the Late Latin word.^[5]

Timeline

• 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great uses it in his letters.^[2][3]
• 726–727 – The Liber historiae Francorum uses it of a queen.^[7][3]
• 1102 – A church council forbids nuns to become commatres.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin, Christianity) A godmother, in her relation to the child's parents or to the other godparent.^[6][7][9]
2. (Late Latin, Christianity) The mother, in her relation to the godfather.^[6]
3. (Medieval Latin) A female companion, a gossip.^[8][1]

Related words

• compater
• māter

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ 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
9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson