Etymologically
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companium

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Forms

companium n (genitive companiī); second declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from com- and pānis (“bread”),[1][3] like companiō, one who eats his bread with another, on which Niermeyer bases it.[4] That noun, found first in the Frankish Salic law, is probably a translation of a Germanic word,[5] which Wiktionary gives as Proto-West Germanic *gahlaibō (“messmate”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the Salic law of the Franks:[1][3] whoever kills a free man in the army in companio, in his own company of comrades, pays three times the usual compensation.[7][1]

Semantic evolution

The TLL and Du Cange understand it as a band of comrades or fellowship,[1][7] although Eccard took it for a battlefield, as if it were written for a word of the campus family.[7] In the Middle Ages it meant a body of warriors, especially a band of mercenaries, an alliance, and the sworn association of a town, the commune.[4]

The Old French compagnie, from which English company comes, belongs with it.[5]

Timeline

  • 507–511? – The Pactus Legis Salicae uses it of a band of comrades in the army.[1][3]
  • mid-12th century – English company appears, from Old French compagnie.[5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) A band of comrades, fellowship.[1][2][7]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A body of warriors; a company of mercenaries.[4]
  3. (Medieval Latin) An alliance; a sworn town association, a commune.[4]

Usage notes

The MLW records a second companium meaning food eaten with bread (fish, eggs, cheese), related to compane.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  2. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  6. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  7. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre