comprimo

Forms

comprimō (present infinitive comprimere, perfect active compressī, supine compressum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled conprimō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin con- (“together”) + premō (“to press”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces premō to Proto-Italic *pres- and Proto-Indo-European *pr-es- (“to press”); the present stem ⟨prem-⟩ was remade after tremō (“to tremble”), while the perfect ⟨pressī⟩ keeps the old stem.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Aulularia: a young man confesses that, drunk, he lay with (compressisse) the girl.^[2][5] Ennius, of the same period, has it of pressing the knees tight.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is to press hard or crush, to squeeze or constrict, and of a man to have intercourse with a woman, often by force.^[2][1] It is to press parts of the body together: comprimere dentēs in Plautus, comprimere manūs to fold the hands, and to close another's eyes in death (Ovid).^[2] It is to pack closely, as Lucretius' wind crowding clouds into one place, to close up ranks or a channel, and in medicine to bind the bowels (Celsus).^[2] It is to hold back supplies, as Cicero's grain locked up and withheld, and to suppress news: Livy's generals at first kept quiet the capture of Carthage.^[2] Of persons it is to curb, subdue or restrain, as Cicero says Lentulus' punishment cowed a man.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “restrain, suppress, squeeze, keep down, press together”.^[6] English compress (late 14th century) goes back to it through Old French.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of intercourse and of clenching the teeth.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of crowding clouds together.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of withholding grain and of curbing persons.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of suppressing news.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English compress.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To press hard, compress, squeeze; to hem in.^[2][1][6]
2. (of a man) To have intercourse with; to violate.^[2][1]
3. To press together, close (the lips, teeth, eyes); comprimere manūs, to fold the hands.^[2]
4. To pack closely; to close up (ranks, a channel); (medicine) to bind (the bowels).^[2][1]
5. To hold back (supplies); to suppress (news, evidence).^[2][1]
6. To curb, subdue, restrain.^[2][1][6]

Word family

• compressiō
• compressor
• compressus
• compressō

Related words

• premō
• opprimō
• exprimō
• English compress

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com