companio

Forms

compāniō m (genitive compāniōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- (“with”) + pānis (“bread”) + -ō, literally “one who shares bread”,^[1][2][3] a calque of Proto-West Germanic *gahlaibō (“messmate”).^[1] Etymonline also takes it as a translation of a Germanic word.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in the Frankish Lex Salica,^[3][1] which fixes the penalty for one who kills a man among his companiones while on campaign; there it means a comrade, a member of the same mess.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

The word stayed rare in Latin texts,^[5][4] but lived on in Old French compaignon, whence French compagnon, Italian compagno and English companion;^[3][2][6] Old Norse borrowed it as kompánn.^[2]

Timeline

• 6th century – The Lex Salica uses it of a comrade in arms.^[3][4]
• c. 1300 – English companion is borrowed from Old French, which inherited it from this word.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) A comrade, companion, messmate.^[1][5][2]

Related words

• pānis
• English companion
• English company

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier