Etymologically
Log in

compes

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 19 October 2026 at 20:36. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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

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