compedio

Forms

compediō (present infinitive compedīre, perfect active compedīvī, supine compedītum); fourth conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin compēs (“fetter, shackle”) + -iō.^[2][1][3] De Vaan lists ⟨compedēs⟩ “fetters” and ⟨compedīre⟩ among the derivatives of pēs (“foot”) and takes the meaning of the verbs in ⟨-pedīre⟩ from the noun for fetters.^[4] That noun goes back to Proto-Italic *pōd- and Proto-Indo-European *pōd-s (“foot”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it from Plautus on,^[4] and Conte cites the Captivi for putting someone in fetters.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short find it mostly before and after the classical period.^[6] Varro has pedes corrigiis “to bind the feet with thongs”,^[6][7][5] and Cato speaks of servi compediti, slaves in fetters.^[6][7] The participle was used as a noun for fettered slaves, in Seneca and Petronius, and for prisoners in the Vulgate and Augustine.^[7]

Augustine also uses it figuratively: to be fettered, most ruinously, by mortal things.^[7][5] He notes that Greek manuscripts of a psalm have συνεπόδισεν (sunepódisen), which he renders compedivit.^[7] The Vulgate's Book of Wisdom has people vinculis tenebrarum compediti, “fettered with the bonds of darkness”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of putting a man in fetters.^[4][5][8]
• 234–149 BC – Cato writes of servi compediti.^[6][8]
• 116–27 BC – Varro has it of binding the feet with thongs.^[6][8]
• 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses compediti for fettered slaves.^[7][8]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it figuratively, of the soul fettered by mortal things.^[7][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To put fetters on, shackle.^[2][6]
2. (participle as noun, plural) Fettered slaves; prisoners.^[7]
3. (figurative, Late Latin) To entangle, hamper.^[7][5]

Word family

• compedus

Related words

• compēs
• pēs

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de