Etymologically
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compenso

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [kɔmˈpẽː.soː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [komˈpɛn.so][1]

Forms

compēnsō (present infinitive compēnsāre, perfect active compēnsāvī, supine compēnsātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + pēnsō (“to weigh”).[2][3][1] Pēnsō is a frequentative of pendō “to weigh”.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero quotes Cato's saying that money is saved by walking, and in the Republic says he would easily make up for the trouble of all injuries.[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

Its basic idea is weighing several things against one another, and in business language to balance one item against another.[5][6] It meant to make good or offset a debt, a sense common in the jurists, and to counterbalance or make up for a lack.[2] It also meant to weigh mentally, to save at the cost of something else, and in Seneca and Lucan to avoid a long way by a short cut.[2]

Medieval Latin used it of weighing and estimating, of rewarding merit and of making amends.[7] English compensate is recorded from the 1640s, and recompense about 1400 from the Medieval Latin compound recompensare.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of offsetting and of saving.[2][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it of a short cut.[2][4]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of offsetting a sum.[2][4]
  • c. 1400 – English recompense is recorded.[8]
  • 1640s – English compensate is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To balance, offset (a debt or item).[2][1]
  2. To counterbalance, make up for, compensate.[2][1]
  3. To weigh mentally (against).[2][1]
  4. To save or obtain at the cost of something else.[2]
  5. To avoid by a short cut.[2]

Word family

  • compēnsātiō
  • compēnsātīvus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com