coniecto

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [kɔnˈjɛk.toː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [konˈjɛk.to]^[1]

Forms

coniectō (present infinitive coniectāre, perfect active coniectāvī, supine coniectātum); first conjugation^[1] Suetonius has the spelling coiect-.^[2]

Etymology

It is the frequentative of coniciō “to throw together; to conclude”, with -tō, from con- and iaciō “to throw”.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ⟨iaciō⟩ to Proto-Italic *jak-i- (“to throw”), from Proto-Indo-European *(H)ih₁-k- (“to throw, let go”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, throw”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation for inferring is Cicero.^[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call it ante-classical and then not found again until Livy in its physical sense, to throw or bring together, as in a decree of Tiberius Gracchus quoted by Gellius.^[6][7] In Cicero and later it meant to infer, conclude, conjecture, guess, and to interpret, as of dreams and omens.^[2][6]

It survives as Catalan congitar.^[1]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of inferring.^[2][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of throwing together.^[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

1. To throw, bring together.^[6][7]
2. To infer, conclude, conjecture, guess.^[2][6]

Word family

• coniectātiō

Related words

• cōniciō
• coniectānea
• coniectārius
• coniectiō
• coniector
• coniectrix
• coniectūra
• cōniectus
• iaciō
• English conjecture

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.