Etymologically

commigro

Etymology and origin of the Latin word commigro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₂meygʷ-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin migro
Latin admigro
Latin transmigro
Latin demigro
Latin commigro
Latin immigro

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkɔm.mɪ.ɡroː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkɔm.mi.ɡro][1]

Forms

commigrō (present infinitive commigrāre, perfect active commigrāvī, supine commigrātum); first conjugation[1] Also spelled conmigrō.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + migrō (“to move, migrate”).[3][1] De Vaan derives ⟨migrō⟩ from ⟨*migro-⟩, Proto-Indo-European *h₂mi-gʷ-ro- (“changing”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἀμείβω (ameíbō, “to change”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Gaffiot cites Cicero's letter to his brother, in domum tuam commigrābis “you will move into your house”.[5] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

It meant to move one's home with all one's belongings, go and live elsewhere, migrate, as in Cicero, and Lewis & Short call it rare but in good prose.[3][2][5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to travel, go, migrate.[7] English commigrate is from it.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it.[5][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To move house, migrate.[3][2]

Word family

  • commigrātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
Cite this entry

“Commigro.” Etymologically, 17 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/commigro. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·