congruo

Forms

congruō (present infinitive congruere, perfect active congruī); third conjugation, no passive, no supine stem^[1] Terence has the present infinitive congruēre.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- (“with, together”) + *gruō, the verbal element also found in ingruō (“to fall upon”).^[2][4][1] Its origin is doubtful: the OLD suggests a cognate in Ancient Greek ἔχραον (ékhraon), and the TLL reports W. Schulze's comparison with the same Greek verb and Lithuanian griūti (“to collapse”).^[2][4][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Terence has it first, in the Phormio: “look, everything matches! they all agree”.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Its literal sense, to come or run together, is rare, as in Valerius Flaccus.^[2][3] Usually it means to correspond or agree: Cicero describes health as the harmony of the elements that make up the body, and he uses it of statements that are consistent with the case.^[2] It also means to coincide in time, to resemble, and to be fitting or suitable.^[2] Of people, it is to agree in opinion, as Cicero says that the Academics and Peripatetics agreed in substance but differed in names.^[2]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence of things that agree and coincide.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of agreement in health, argument and doctrine.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of a plant resembling another.^[2][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To come together, unite, combine; to blend harmoniously.^[2][3][1]
2. To correspond, accord, be consistent; to coincide; to resemble.^[2][6][1]
3. To be appropriate, suit, fit.^[2][1]
4. Of persons, to agree.^[2][1]

Word family

• congruentia
• congruus
• incongruēns
• congruēns
• congruenter

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson