compressio

Forms

compressiō f (genitive compressiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin comprimō (“to press together, squeeze”) + -tiō, a noun of action formed on the participle stem ⟨compress-⟩ of the verb.^{[2][3][4][1][5]}

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest use is in Plautus, in the plural, of the embraces of lovers: compressiōnēs artae amantum corporum, “the tight embraces of lovers' bodies”.^[2][6][3][7]

Semantic evolution

Cicero uses it figuratively, of writers made brief by the compression of their matter.^[2][6][8] Vitruvius has it of squeezing in a cloth with the hands,^[2][3] Scribonius Largus of pressing the muscles, and Gellius and Apuleius of pressing the belly.^[2][6] Hyginus uses it, like the verb, of sexual union, and so do Arnobius and Tertullian.^[2][6][3]

Late Latin writers gave it the sense “suppression, repression”: Orosius speaks of the suppression of civil wars, Ambrose of bodily desires held down.^[6][8][9] Orosius, Marcellinus and Cassiodorus also use it of people crushed in a crowd or a fight.^[3] Medieval surgeons used it of pressure on a wound or a bandage,^[10] and other writers of a throng, of sealing wax pressed with a seal, of the compression of rays and of the suppression of a sound.^{[11][12][13][14]} It is the source of Italian compressione,^[9] and English compression came from it, partly through Old French, about 1400.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of lovers' embraces.^[2][3][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the compression of matter in speech.^[2][6][7]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of squeezing in a cloth.^[2][3][7]
• second half of the 1st century BC – Hyginus uses it of sexual union.^[2][7]
• 417/418 AD – Orosius uses it of the suppression of civil wars.^[6][8][7]
• c. 1400 – English compression is borrowed, partly through Old French.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A squeezing, pressing together; compression.^[2][6][8][1]
2. An embrace; sexual union, copulation.^[2][6][3][1]
3. (rhetoric) The compression or abridging (of matter in speech).^[2][6][15]
4. (Late Latin) Suppression, repression.^[6][8][9]
5. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) A crushing (of people); a throng, crowd.^[3][11][14]
6. (Medieval Latin) An impression (in wax, of a seal).^[12][13]

Related words

• compressus
• English compression

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
10. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
11. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
12. ^ a b Bartal, Antal, et al. (1987–), Lexicon Latinitatis Medii Aevi Hungariae, Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó; online ed. ELTE
13. ^ a b Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
14. ^ a b 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
15. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.