confronto

Forms

cōnfrontō (present infinitive cōnfrontāre, perfect active cōnfrontāvī, supine cōnfrontātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from con- and the stem of frōns² (“forehead, front”) with the verbal suffix -ō.^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest record is in Gascon documents of 1289, where it is used of squares bounded by a wall and of districts that border on a lord's lands.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It was a word of charters in southern France and Gascony, where estates were described by what they border on.^[3][4] Du Cange quotes the deponent confrontari from documents of the Dauphiné of 1302 and 1317, where a castle and its territory border on neighbouring lands.^[4] He also gives the active sense “to assign limits”, from a charter of 1406,^[4] and a related noun confrontatio meant a boundary.^[4][3]

French confronter (15th century) came from it;^[2] English confront (1560s), at first “to stand facing”, was borrowed from the French.^[2] The modern sense “to confront” is given in Wiktionary and by Stelten.^[1][5]

Timeline

• 1289 – Gascon records use it of land bordering on other land.^[3]
• 1302 – A document of the Dauphiné uses confrontari of a castle bordering on territories.^[4]
• 1406 – A charter uses it for assigning limits.^[4]
• 1560s – English confront is borrowed through French.^[2]

Meanings

Verb

1. (Medieval Latin) To border on, to be contiguous with (often deponent confrontari).^[3][4][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) To fix the limits of.^[4][6][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) To confront.^[1][5]

Related words

• English confront

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g h du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften