compatior

Forms

compatior (present infinitive compatī, perfect active compassus sum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, deponent^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + patior (“to suffer, endure”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Tertullian,^[3][4] who says in De anima that the soul suffers together with the body (anima compatitur corpori).^[4]

Semantic evolution

Caelius Aurelianus uses it in medicine for suffering together.^[3][2] In Augustine it means to feel compassion for others,^[3][4] the sense of Christian writers generally;^[2] its noun compassiō was an ecclesiastical loan-translation of Ancient Greek συμπάθεια (sumpátheia).^[5]

In the Middle Ages it meant to suffer or feel with someone, to have mercy and show it by help, to grieve and to take part in, and also to tolerate; in music it was used of sounds that agree.^[6] Church law used it of benefices that can be held together, “to be compatible”.^[7][8]

Timeline

• c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian says that the soul suffers with the body.^[4][9]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses it of bodily sympathy.^[3][9]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it for feeling compassion.^[3][4][9]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Late Latin) To suffer with someone or something, to be affected together.^[3][2][4]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To have compassion, to feel pity.^[3][2][10]
3. (Medieval Latin) To show mercy; to tolerate, put up with.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) Of ecclesiastical benefices: to be compatible.^[7][8]

Word family

• compassibilis
• compassiō

Related words

• English compassion

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson