concubinus

Forms

concubīnus m (genitive concubīnī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin concumbō (“to lie together”) + -īnus according to the OLD;^[2] the TLL takes it as the masculine formed to concubīna (“concubine”),^[3] which is far more frequent.^[4] De Vaan lists that noun, from Plautus on, among the derivatives of cubō (“to lie down”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Catullus.^[6] In Catullus (61.130) the master's concubīnus, hearing that his master's love has left him, is told not to refuse nuts to the boys; the TLL takes it there as a favourite boy.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

The OLD defines it as a catamite or male lover,^[2] and the TLL quotes the Bellum Hispaniense on a freedman who had been someone's concubīnus.^[3] Lewis & Short note that the masculine is not in Cicero, and cite Quintilian, Pliny the Elder, Curtius, Suetonius, Tacitus and Martial for it.^[4] Köbler records a medieval adjective concubīnus, “lying together”, in the second half of the 13th century.^[6]

Timeline

• 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it of a favourite boy.^[3][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it.^[4][6]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it.^[4][6]
• second half of the 13th century – Köbler records a medieval adjective, “lying together”.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A catamite, favourite boy; a male lover.^[2][3][7]
2. A man living in concubinage.^[4][1]

Adjective

1. (Medieval Latin) Lying together.^[6]

Related words

• concumbō
• concubīnātus
• concubitus

Usage notes

Lewis & Short treat the masculine with the far more common feminine concubīna, one who lives in concubinage, a less reproachful term than paelex.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier