coniectura

Forms

coniectūra f (genitive coniectūrae); first declension^[1] Suetonius has the spelling coiectūra.^[2]

Etymology

It is formed from cōniciō (“to throw together; to infer”), or its participle ⟨coniectus⟩, with the suffix -ūra.^[2][3][1] The verb is con- and iaciō (“to throw”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *jak-i- (“to throw”) and Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁- (“to throw, let go”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἵημι (híēmi, “to send, throw”).^[4] The rhetorician Sulpicius Victor explained that it is so called because by conjecturing and arguing one must arrive at the truth.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius has it of the interpretation of dreams, begged of Apollo to learn where such great dream-oracles tend,^[2] and Plautus has “if we can find it by inference”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the inferring of one fact from another, reasoning, especially coniectūram facere, and the power of inference, as Cicero's “if the silent figure of a body offers any clue”.^[2][5] With the stress on lack of certainty it is guesswork or conjecture, as in Pacuvius.^[2][5] It is also the interpretation of dreams and omens, divining, and a prophecy or forecast, as in Cicero's De divinatione.^[2][1]

In medieval Latin it is a heap or a great number, and a levy on a district's inhabitants for the upkeep of the king or his agents on their travels.^[6] Church Latin glosses it “guess, conjecture”.^[7] English conjecture came from it, through Old French or directly, in the late 14th century, first of interpreting signs and dreams.^[8]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of interpreting dreams.^[2][9]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of inference.^[2][9]
• 220–130 BC – Pacuvius of guesswork.^[2][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of prophecy.^[2][9]
• late 14th century – English conjecture.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. Inference, reasoning;^[2][5] coniectūram facere, to infer.^[2]
2. Guesswork, conjecture, guess.^[2][5][1][7]
3. Interpretation (of dreams, omens), divining; a prophecy.^[2][5][1]
4. (Medieval Latin) A heap; a great number; a levy for the maintenance of the king or royal agents.^[6]

Word family

• coniectūrālis

Related words

• cōniciō
• coniectiō
• coniectō
• coniector
• cōniectus
• iaciō
• English conjecture

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 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 d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de