confraternitas

Forms

confrāternitās f (genitive confrāternitātis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin con- + frāternitās (“brotherhood”),^[1][2][3] though Etymonline derives it from cōnfrāter (“fellow brother”).^[4] The base frāternitās comes from frāter (“brother”),^[1] which goes back to Proto-Italic *frāter- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰréh₂-tr- (“brother”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's earliest record is a charter of 1074, in the sense of a prayer fellowship or religious brotherhood.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In Medieval Latin it named a community of prayer between religious houses, a brotherhood, and a merchants' or craftsmen's guild.^[6][2] Charters speak of houses keeping an “old confraternity” with each other and of lay people received into it,^[7][8] and the word came to mean the share in the spiritual benefits of a community that membership gave.^[8][1] In theology it was also the spiritual kinship between a baptised child and the children of the godparents.^[7] The Rule of Grandmont forbids the feasts “which the people call confraternities”,^[9] and the Peace of God associations of Occitania and Aquitaine were called confraternitas Dei.^[9]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a sodality or confraternity,^[10] with the derivative archiconfrāternitās.^[1] English confraternity (late 15th century) comes from it, through Old French or directly,^[4] and Italian confraternita from the Medieval Latin word.^[3]

Timeline

• 1074 – A charter has it for a religious brotherhood.^[2]
• 1174/1192 – A charter of Stavelot speaks of an old prayer fellowship between two houses.^[7]
• 1286 – A prior and convent admit a man into their confraternity, with a share in its spiritual benefits.^[8]
• late 15th century – English borrows it as confraternity.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) A community of prayer between religious houses.^[6][7]
2. (Medieval Latin) A brotherhood, confraternity; brotherliness.^[6][1][8]
3. (Medieval Latin) A merchants' or craftsmen's guild.^[6][2]
4. (Medieval Latin) Membership of a confraternity and its privileges.^[1][7][8]
5. (Medieval Latin, theology) Spiritual kinship between a baptised child and the children of its godparents.^[7]

Word family

• archiconfrāternitās

Related words

• frāternitās
• frāter
• English confraternity

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e f Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c d e Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
10. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson