compes

Forms

compēs f (genitive compedis); third declension^[1] It is also spelled conpēs.^[2][3] Plautus has the accusative plural compedīs and the genitive plural compedium.^[2] The Vulgate and Lactantius treat it as masculine.^[3]

Etymology

It is formed from con- and a stem *pedis, from pēs (“foot”).^[2][4] De Vaan traces pēs to Proto-Italic *pōd- (“foot”) and Proto-Indo-European *pōd-s (“foot”).^[5] Isidore and Priscian derived the word from the feet it holds, while Nonius claimed it was named from hindrance rather than from feet.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus has it first, as in the Captivi: “order thick fetters to be clapped on him”.^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a shackle for the feet, usually in the plural.^[2][3] It is used of anything that hinders movement, as of bronze fetters on the body in Varro, and of a river bound by an icy fetter.^[2] Cicero uses it figuratively, calling the laurelled fasces fetters and speaking of souls held in the fetters of the body.^[2] In Medieval Latin it also meant a prison.^[7] Church Latin glosses it shackle or foot fetter.^[8]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of fetters for slaves.^[3][6]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of bronze fetters on the body.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the fetters of the body.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A shackle for the feet, fetter; usually plural.^[2][3][8][1]
2. Anything that hinders movement; figuratively, a bond, restraint.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A prison.^[7]

Word family

• compediō

Related words

• pēs
• pedica

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson