Etymologically
Log in

conglobo

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word conglobo

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
120–67 BC, Sisenna
Ultimate origin
Latin (con-,globo)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔŋ.ɡɫɔ.boː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔŋ.ɡlo.bo][1]

Forms

conglobō (present infinitive conglobāre, perfect active conglobāvī, supine conglobātum); first conjugation[1] Lucretius has it in tmesis, conque globata.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + globō (“to make into a ball”), from globus (“ball, mass”).[2][3][1] De Vaan thinks globus is probably a loanword, related to glēba (“clod”), whose only likely cognates are Baltic, such as Lithuanian glė́bti (“to embrace, clasp”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Sisenna and Cicero's philosophical works on.[3] Sisenna has men massed together, clashing their arms.[2]

Semantic evolution

It is first to form into a ball or sphere: Cicero reports Xenophanes' teaching that all is one, of spherical shape, and says the sea, seeking the middle, forms itself into a sphere.[2][5] It is also to gather into one mass: Cicero's earth is drawn together into itself, Seneca imagines atoms massing a man by chance, and sanguis conglobātus is a blood clot.[2] Of people and animals it is to crowd together, as in Apuleius, bursting into a bedroom in a close wedge,[2] and figuratively Cicero speaks of definitions massed together.[2] The TLL notes that the participle conglobātus is very common.[3]

Timeline

  • 120–67 BC – Sisenna, of men massed together.[2][3][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, of the round earth and sea.[2][5][6]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca, of atoms massing together.[2][6]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius, of a close wedge.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To form into a ball or sphere.[2][5][1]
  2. To gather into one mass;[2][1] sanguis conglobātus, a blood clot.[2][1]
  3. To crowd together; to form by crowding together.[2][1]
  4. (figurative) To mass together, accumulate.[2][1]

Word family

  • conglobatim
  • conglobātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Conglobo.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/conglobo. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·