complex

Forms

complex (genitive complicis); third-declension one-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + plicō (“to fold”).^[1][2] The TLL compares complicō (“to fold together”) and the adjectives simplex and multiplex.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest record is in Arnobius (297–310 AD),^[2] who reports Varro's view of gods dwelling in the innermost recesses of heaven, called consentes et complices, “agreeing and associated”.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

It is a Late Latin word,^[4] used as an adjective, “closely connected with, sharing in”, often with a genitive, by Christian writers and in the laws,^[4][5] and as a noun for a partner or colleague; the glosses explain it as socii and conscii.^[3]

In Medieval Latin it named a copartner, a follower or partisan, and above all an accomplice.^[6][7] Old French took it as complice, “a confederate, partner”, without a criminal sense;^[8] English borrowed that as complice in the early 15th century, and accomplice (1580s) is an unetymological extension of it.^[8]

Timeline

• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it of the gods called consentes et complices.^[3][2]
• c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it with a genitive.^[4][2]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it in the Hamartigenia.^[4][2]
• early 8th century AD – Bede writes that Eve made her husband an accomplice in her transgression.^[7][2]
• early 15th century – English borrows complice through Old French.^[8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Closely connected (with someone), confederate; sharing in (with genitive).^[4][5][9]
2. Of gods: dii consentes et complices, gods agreeing and associated together.^[4]

Noun

1. A partner, associate, colleague.^[3][2]
2. (Late Latin) An accomplice, a partner in wrongdoing.^[9][6][7]
3. (Medieval Latin) A copartner in business.^[6]
4. (Medieval Latin) A partisan, follower, comrade.^[6]

Related words

• complicō
• simplex
• English accomplice

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
6. ^ a b c d 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 c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson