Etymologically
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complico

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔm.plɪ.koː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔm.pli.ko][1]

Forms

complicō (present infinitive complicāre, perfect active complicāvī, supine complicātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + plicō (“to fold”).[2][1][3] De Vaan lists it with the other verbs in ⟨-plicāre⟩ under plectō (“to plait”): they come from Proto-Italic *-plek-ā-, probably denominal verbs from compound adjectives, and the simple plicō was a back-formation from them.[4] The root is Proto-Indo-European *pleḱ-t-e/o- (“to plait, twine”), as in Ancient Greek πλέκω (plékō, “to braid, twine”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] who in the Mercator uses it of folding up a ship's rigging.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it of folding a letter, and figuratively of a notion folded up in the mind, which one might unfold.[6][7] It was used of bending a limb at the joint (Celsus) and of curling oneself up: Seneca writes that Diogenes doubled himself up in his barrel.[2][7] Varro uses it of tying figs together on a string, Frontinus of bringing the wings of a battle line together around the enemy, and Gellius of winding a strap round a stick.[2] The perfect was ⟨complicāvī⟩, but ⟨complicuī⟩ and the participle ⟨complicitum⟩ appear after Augustus.[7][3] Augustine uses it in arithmetic for multiplying.[6] In medieval Latin it is also used of folding the hands, as a vassal did when commending himself to a lord.[8] English complicate comes from its past participle.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of folding up rigging.[2][5]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of tying figs together.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of folding a letter.[6][5]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca writes that Diogenes curled himself up in his barrel.[2][5]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it of multiplying.[6][5]
  • 1620s – English complicate is recorded, from its past participle.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To fold together, fold up, roll up.[2][7]
  2. To wind round.[2]
  3. To bend a limb at the joint;[2] (reflexive) to curl oneself up.[2]
  4. To tie in bundles; to bring the ends of something together.[2]
  5. (figurative) To fold up a thought or notion in the mind.[6]
  6. (Late Latin) To multiply.[6]
  7. (Medieval Latin) To fold the hands in an act of commendation.[8]

Word family

  • complicabilis
  • complicātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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 e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com