Etymologically
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conexus

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conexus1 joined

Forms

cōnexus (feminine cōnexa, neuter cōnexum); first/second-declension adjective, also spelled connexus[1]

Etymology

The adjective is the participle from Latin cōnectō (“to join, connect”).[1][2] That verb is a compound of con- and nectō (“to bind”).[3] The origin of ⟨nectō⟩ is unclear: an old proposal takes it as a remade ⟨*nedere⟩ with the root of nōdus (“knot”), which de Vaan calls a remote possibility, and he mentions as an alternative the root Proto-Indo-European *h₂neḱ- (“to reach”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it in the De oratore, saying that the opening of a speech should be connected with what follows.[1]

Semantic evolution

It means joined or linked, as Virgil's bees hanging linked by their feet, and of time continuous, in Manilius.[1] It also means related or interdependent, in Cicero, Seneca, Pliny the Elder and Quintilian, who says that all these things are linked together.[1] Of persons it means bound by ties: Statius has it of love, and Tacitus of kinship by marriage.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of parts of a speech connected with each other.[1][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of bees linked by their feet.[1][4]
  • 1st century AD – Manilius uses it of continuous time.[1][4]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of kinship by marriage.[1][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Joined together, linked; of time, continuous.[1]
  2. Related, associated; interdependent.[1]
  3. (of persons) Bound by ties of friendship, kinship and the like.[1]

conexus2 connection

Forms

cōnexus m (genitive cōnexūs); fourth declension[5]

Etymology

The noun is from Latin cōnectō (“to join, connect”) + -tus.[1][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucretius,[3][4] who lists the various combinations, weights, blows, meetings and motions by which things are brought about (varios conexus pondera plagas concursus motus).[6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short note that Lucretius uses it several times, mostly in the plural, and that it is rare elsewhere;[2][6] Vitruvius has it of the joining of warp and weft.[2][6] Köbler also cites it from Manilius.[4]

Medieval writers used it of any connection or union, once apparently of carnal union, of a group of letters, and of a noose.[7]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the combinations of atoms.[6][4]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the joining of warp and weft.[6][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A joining together, connection, combination.[1][2]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A union; a group (of letters); a noose.[7]

Usage notes

The OLD has separate entries for the participle used as an adjective and for the fourth-declension noun.[1] The MLW also records a rare medieval second-declension noun conexus meaning “husband”.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c 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 d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  6. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften