Etymologically
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commisceo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔmˈmɪs.ke.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [komˈmiʃ.ʃe.o][1]

Forms

commisceō (present infinitive commiscēre, perfect active commiscuī, supine commixtum); second conjugation[1] The participle is also spelled commistus.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + misceō (“to mix”).[4][1][5] The verb misceō goes back to Proto-Indo-European *miḱ-sḱé- (“to mix”).[6] The Thesaurus compares Old Irish con-mescatar (“are mixed”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is Plautus' Persa, “mix the honeyed wine”.[4]

Semantic evolution

It is to mix ingredients together, or one thing with another, as Cato's lees mixed with water, and with abstract objects to combine or confuse, as Quintilian's subjects of deliberation made up of both kinds.[4][2] Cicero uses it of sexual union, and Virgil of one people mingling with another, the Trojans who will be mixed with them in blood only.[4] In Plautus it is also to share counsel or discuss something with someone.[4]

Church Latin glosses it “mingle, lie with”.[3]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of mixing wine and of sharing counsel.[4][7]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of lees mixed with water.[4][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of sexual union.[4][7]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of peoples mingling.[4][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To mix together, mingle; to combine, confuse.[4][2][1]
  2. To unite sexually; to mingle with another people.[4][3]
  3. To share counsel or business with.[4]

Word family

  • commiscibilis
  • commixtim
  • commixtiō
  • commixtūra
  • commistim
  • commistiō
  • commixtum
  • commistus
  • commixtus

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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de