Etymologically
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compitum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔm.pɪ.tũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔm.pi.tum][1]

Forms

compitum n (genitive compitī); second declension[1] Varro has competum.[2][3] A masculine compitus is found in Caecilius and Varro.[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin competō (“to come together, meet”), the place where roads meet.[2][4][5] That verb is a compound of con- and petō (“to make for”), which de Vaan connects with a root meaning to fly.[1][6]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cato, who has it in the singular.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

It is a place where three or more roads meet, a crossroads, mostly in the plural.[2][3] By metonymy it is the people at the crossroads: in Horace the crowds there gave someone the nickname Mercurialis.[2] Varro uses it figuratively of a point where one must choose a way: from the first crossroads Epicurus built the road on the right.[2] It is also the shrine of the Lares Compitales at a crossroads, which inscriptions record being repaired.[2] Varro has the form ⟨competum⟩, and Caecilius and Varro a masculine ⟨compitus⟩.[2][3] Church Latin glosses it crossroads.[7]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in the singular.[3][4]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a crossroads of choice.[2][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of the crowds at the crossroads.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A place where roads meet, a crossroads, road junction; the people gathered there.[2][3][1][7]
  2. Figuratively, a point where a choice must be made.[2]
  3. A shrine of the Lares Compitales at a crossroads.[2]

Usage notes

Compitum Anagnīnum was a place in Latium near Anagnia, mentioned by Livy.[5]

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