compositio

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [kɔm.pɔˈsɪ.ti.oː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [kom.poˈs̬it.t͡si.o]^[1]

Forms

compositiō f (genitive compositiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from compōnō “to put together” with the suffix -tiō, and is also spelled ⟨conpositiō⟩.^[2][3][4] Wiktionary takes it in some senses as a calque of Ancient Greek σύνθεσις (súnthesis).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL says it is read from the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero onwards.^[3] Köbler dates the Rhetorica ad Herennium 86/82 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a putting together, as in Vitruvius, of words a combination, and in Cicero the matching of gladiators.^[2][6] It meant a storing, a mixture of ingredients, the composition of a medicine or of perfumes, as Cicero's unguentōrum compositiō.^[2][4] It meant arrangement, order, a musical pattern, and in rhetoric the artistic arrangement of words in prose.^[2] It also meant a settlement of differences, an agreement, as in Cicero.^[2]

Medieval Latin used it of a pattern, a literary composition, adornment, and an amicable settlement.^[7] English composition came in the late 14th century through Old French composicion.^[8]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of the arrangement of words.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of matching and of settlement.^[2][5]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of fitting together.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English composition is recorded.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A putting together; a combination of words.^[2]
2. A matching, pairing.^[2]
3. A storing.^[2]
4. A mixture; the composition of a medicine.^[2]
5. Arrangement, order, structure.^[2]
6. (rhetoric) The artistic arrangement of words.^[2]
7. A settlement, agreement.^[2]

Related words

• compōnō
• positiō
• English composition
• English compose

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 m n o 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com