complementum

Forms

complēmentum n (genitive complēmentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin compleō (“to fill up”) + -mentum.^[2][3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero (81–43 BC), in the Orator, speaks of empty words stuffed into a sentence as fillers of the rhythm, quasi complēmenta numerōrum.^[3][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Tacitus writes that the charge of treason was then the finishing touch of every accusation, and a law of 374 in the Theodosian Code uses it of the completion of an accusation.^[3][4] Later writers use it for whatever completes something: Firmicus Maternus of the moon's fullness, Vegetius of the completion of a work, Augustine of Pentecost as the mystical completion of Easter;^[3] Apringius, commenting on the Apocalypse, of the end of the Greek alphabet.^[3] It also came to mean the act of completing or accomplishing, as in Isidore.^[3]

In Medieval Latin it also meant the settlement of a debt and the carrying out of a punishment,^[6] and scholastic writers in Britain used it for completeness, the full realisation of a being.^[7] English complement (late 14th century) comes from it through Old French, and so, by another route, does compliment.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero: words that only fill out the rhythm.^[3][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus: treason as the finishing touch of all accusations.^[3][5]
• 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus, of the waxing moon.^[3][5]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine: Pentecost completes Easter.^[3][5]
• c. 560–636 AD – Isidore uses it for the fulfilling of commandments.^[3][5]
• late 14th century – English borrows complement through Old French.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. That which fills up or completes something, a complement.^[2][4][3]
2. (Late Latin) completion, fulfilment, accomplishment.^[3][6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) The settlement of a debt; the carrying out of a punishment.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin, philosophy) Completeness, full realisation.^[7]

Word family

• complēmentārius

Related words

• supplēmentum
• English compliment

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from supplēmentum: a complēmentum completes and crowns the whole, like a keystone, while a supplementum fills gaps and supplies what is missing.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper