commingo

Forms

commingō (present infinitive commingere, perfect active comminxī, supine commīnctum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin con- + mingō.^[1][2] The OLD files it under commēiō, formed from meiō (“to urinate”),^[3] and de Vaan derives both that verb and -mingō from Proto-Italic *meiχ(j)e- and Proto-Indo-European *h₃meiǵʰ- (“to urinate”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has the participle in the Persa, calling someone a public dunghill soaked with filth (commictum caeno sterculinum publicum).^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The literal sense is “wet with urine”: Horace has a drunk who wets the couch.^[2][6] Catullus used it of defiling kisses with foul spittle, giving the general sense “soil, defile”.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the participle commictum as a term of abuse.^[2][7]
• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of defiling kisses.^[2][7]
• 65–8 BC – Horace uses comminxit of soiling a couch.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To wet with urine.^[3][6]
2. (figurative) To defile, soil.^[3][2]

Word family

• commictilis

Usage notes

Conte calls the present commingō unused and refers it to commēiō;^[8] the attested forms are the perfect comminxī and the participle comm(ī)ctum.^[2][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d 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 Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier