Etymologically
Log in

comptus

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word comptus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₁em-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin emo
Latin emptio
Latin exemplum
French exemple
Latin como
Latin comptus
Latin incomptus
Latin coemo
Latin emptor

Forms

cōmptus (feminine cōmpta, neuter cōmptum, comparative cōmptior); first/second-declension adjective[1][2]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the perfect participle from Latin cōmō (“to arrange, adorn”).[1][2] De Vaan explains that verb as a compound of emō in its old sense “to take”, going back to Proto-Italic *eme/o- (“to take”) and Proto-Indo-European *h₁em- (“to take”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[4] who notes a man's dressed hair.[1]

Semantic evolution

It means adorned, decorated, as the Culex has Tisiphone adorned with snakes all over; of hair it is dressed, arranged.[1] Of persons it is spruced up, smart, as Horace's well-groomed serving boys.[1] Of speech and writing it is elegant, neat, polished: Cicero speaks of a style that is plausible if not too polished.[1] Festus records a kind of offering made of moistened flour called by this name.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of dressed hair and of polished style.[1][4]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace of well-groomed boys.[1]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Adorned, decorated;[1][2] (of hair) dressed, arranged.[1][2]
  2. (of persons) Spruced up, smart.[1]
  3. (of style) Elegant, neat, polished.[1]

Usage notes

There is also a rare noun cōmptus, -ūs, adornment, which Festus reports from Afranius and which Lucretius uses of a maiden's dressed hair.[1][5][4] Lucretius' comptus “union” of body and soul is explained by Lewis & Short from coemō “to join”.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Comptus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/comptus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·