Etymologically
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conformo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kõːˈfoːr.moː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [koɱˈfɔr.mo][1]

Forms

cōnfōrmō (present infinitive cōnfōrmāre, perfect active cōnfōrmāvī, supine cōnfōrmātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- (“with, together”) + fōrmō (“to form, shape”),[2][3][1] and fōrmō is from fōrma (“form, shape”).[1] The origin of that noun is unclear; de Vaan thinks it and Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “form, shape”) may have been borrowed from a third language.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Afranius on,[3][5] in a comedy where someone orders that a girl be looked after and properly decked out (puellam cūrent, cōnfōrment probē).[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short note that Cicero uses it several times and that it is otherwise very rare in the classical period.[6] Cicero has it of nature shaping people for greater things, of speech shaped by the arrangement of words, and of training character;[2][7] in a letter he says he adapts himself to the will of a man from whom he cannot honourably dissent (ipse mē cōnfōrmō ad eius voluntātem).[2][3] Vitruvius describes the sky as shaped by the stars and their courses,[2] and Gellius says a she-bear shapes its cub by licking it.[7]

Christian writers used it for being shaped after a model: the Vulgate has nōlīte cōnfōrmārī huic saeculō, “do not be conformed to this world” (Romans 12:2), and Ambrose and Augustine write of conforming oneself to Christ or to God.[3] Ecclesiastical Latin also used it for educating.[8] English took it over in the 14th century as conform, partly through Old French.[9]

Timeline

  • second half of the 2nd century BC – Afranius uses it of dressing up a girl.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of shaping speech and character and of adapting oneself.[2][6][5]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of the sky shaped by the stars.[2][5]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it of a she-bear licking its cub into shape.[7][5]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses the passive of being conformed to the world.[3][5]
  • mid-14th century – English borrows it as conform.[9]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To shape, fashion, mould; to outline or sketch (a design, a mental picture).[2][6]
  2. To deck out, dress up.[2]
  3. To give shape to ideas or speech.[2]
  4. To make to correspond, bring into harmony;[2][10] (reflexive) to adapt oneself.[2][10]
  5. To train, educate.[2][8]
  6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) (passive) To be conformed (to the world, to Christ).[3][8]

Word family

  • conformalis
  • cōnfōrmātiō
  • conformator

Usage notes

Manuscripts often confuse it with cōnfirmō.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  10. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier