Etymologically
Log in

compar

Etymology and origin of the Latin word compar

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (con-,pār)

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkɔm.paːr][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkɔm.par][1]

Forms

compār (genitive comparis); third-declension one-termination adjective[1] Also spelled conpar; ablative comparī or compare.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from con- “together” and pār “equal”.[2][1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of a partner.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it meant similar, matching, as in Livy's cōnsilium cōnsiliō compār “a plan matching another”, and equal, on equal terms.[2][6] As a noun it was a fellow, partner, comrade, and a husband or wife, as in Plautus and the poets; in rhetoric the neuter was a sentence of clauses with nearly the same number of syllables, as in the Rhetorica ad Herennium.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant companion, and like, equal.[7] In Medieval Latin it was a person of the same legal status, a peer, a fellow vassal.[8] Its verb comparō “to match, compare” is the source of English compare.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a partner.[2][5]
  • 86/82 BC – the Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of balanced clauses.[2][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of similar things.[2][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Similar, matching; equal.[2]

Noun

  1. A partner, comrade; a spouse.[2]
  2. (rhetoric) A sentence of balanced clauses.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) A peer, fellow vassal.[8]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
Cite this entry

“Compar.” Etymologically, 16 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/compar. Accessed 16 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·