congredior
Pronunciation
Forms
congredior (present infinitive congredī, perfect active congressus sum); third (-iō variant) conjugation, deponent[1] Plautus has the infinitive congredīrī.[2] Glossaries have an active infinitive congredere.[3]
Etymology
It is from Latin con- + gradior (“to step, walk”).[2][3][1] The verb gradior goes back to Proto-Italic *grad-(e)i-.[4] Cognate with Old Irish in·greinn (“chases”).[4]
Earliest recorded meaning
Its first example in the OLD is Plautus' “if a rich man comes, the poor man is afraid to approach him”.[2]
Semantic evolution
It means to go near, approach or meet a person, in a friendly or hostile sense.[2][5] As a military word it is to join battle, as in Accius' “you would think two gods of war had met in arms”.[2] Figuratively it is to contend in discussion or in court, as in Gellius' philosopher grappling with pain.[2][1]
Timeline
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of approaching a rich man.[2][6]
- 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of joining battle.[2][6]
- c. 165 AD – Gellius of contending with pain.[2][6]
Meanings
Verb
- To approach, meet, accost.[2][5][1]
- To join battle, engage, fight.[2][5][1]
- To contend in discussion or at law.[2][1]
Word family
- congressiō
- congressor
- congressus
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de