Etymologically
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confoedero

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kõːˈfoe̯.dɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [koɱˈfɛː.de.ro][1]

Forms

cōnfoederō (present infinitive cōnfoederāre, perfect active cōnfoederāvī, supine cōnfoederātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin con- + foedus2 (“treaty, league”),[2][1] though the TLL also allows the verb foederō (“to make a treaty”) as its base.[2] The noun goes back to Proto-Italic *feiþ-os- (“trust”) and Proto-Indo-European *bheidh-e/o- (“to trust”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Tertullian is the first to use it, of all the churches joined to the apostolic ones by their fellowship in the sacrament.[2][4]

Semantic evolution

It belongs to Late Latin, mostly to Christian writers.[5][1] Besides its literal sense of joining by a league or alliance, as when Orosius speaks of the Sabine women united by impious marriages,[5] it was used figuratively for joining things closely together: Novatian says that man and the divine are united in Christ,[2] Prudentius uses it of limbs, and Jerome of a friendship just beginning.[5] Ecclesiastical Latin also gave it the sense “to conform”.[6]

Its past participle cōnfoederātus is the source of English confederate (1530s).[7]

Timeline

  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of churches united in the sacrament.[2][4]
  • 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it figuratively of limbs.[5][4]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of a growing friendship.[5][4]
  • 417/418 AD – Orosius uses it of the Sabine women joined in marriage.[5][4]
  • 1530s – English forms confederate from its past participle.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To unite or join by a league or alliance.[5][1]
  2. (figurative) To join closely together, bind together.[2][5][6]
  3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To conform.[6]

Word family

  • cōnfoederātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  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 d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  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