Etymologically
Log in

compingo

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 16 October 2026 at 18:48. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [kɔmˈpɪŋ.ɡoː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [komˈpiŋ.ɡo][1]

Forms

compingō (present infinitive compingere, perfect active compēgī, supine compāctum); third conjugation[1] Also spelled conpingō.[2]

Etymology

It is from con- and pangō “to fix, fasten”.[2][1][3] De Vaan traces ⟨pangō⟩ to Proto-Italic *pang- (“to attach”), from Proto-Indo-European *ph₂-n-ǵ- (“to attach”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of shutting someone up.[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant to shut up, put away, as in Plautus; to fix together, bind, as in Vitruvius; and to build, put together, construct, as in Cicero and Virgil, whose participle compāctus means well joined, compact.[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant to construct, join together.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of building.[2][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of fixing together.[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To shut up, put away.[2]
  2. To fix together, bind.[2]
  3. To put together, construct.[2]

Word family

  • compactilis
  • compāctiō
  • compactiuus
  • compactūra
  • compāgēs
  • compagina
  • compāgō
  • recompingo
  • compāctus

Usage notes

A rare compingō “to paint over”, from pingō “to paint”, is used by Seneca figuratively of Aristarchus disguising other men's poems.[8][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press