confertus

Forms

cōnfertus (feminine cōnferta, neuter cōnfertum, comparative cōnfertior, superlative cōnfertissimus); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

Used as an adjective, it is the past participle from Latin cōnferciō (“to cram together”).^[1][2] De Vaan lists it, dated from Ennius, among the derivatives of farciō (“to stuff”), from Proto-Italic *fark-je- (“to stuff”); the only possible cognate he sees is Ancient Greek φράσσω (phrássō, “to fence in”), which does not quite match in meaning.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Ennius.^[3] Köbler gives Caesar as its first author.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It means pressed close together, crowded, and in military language in close order: Lucretius has dense clouds, and Tacitus soldiers advancing in close order.^[1] Cicero uses it of things of compact substance, and, with an ablative, of people crammed full, as men stuffed with food.^[1][2] Apuleius applies it to the voice of a whole crowd at once.^[1]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[3][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of dense clouds.^[1][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of men crammed with food.^[1][4]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus of soldiers in close order.^[1][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Pressed close together, crowded, thronging; of troops, in close order.^[1][2]
2. Of substance, dense, compact.^[1]
3. Crammed, full; abounding in.^[1][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de