Etymologically
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compositio

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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]

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