Etymologically
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coniugalis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔn.jʊˈɡaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [kon.juˈɡaː.lis][1]

Forms

coniugālis (neuter coniugāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin coniūnx (“spouse”) + -ālis according to the OLD and the TLL;[2][3] Wiktionary instead derives it from coniugō (“to join in marriage”).[1] The noun is a compound of con- with the root of iungō (“to join, yoke”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is in Varro, who speaks of a couch spread in the house for the marriage gods dīs coniugālibus Pīlumnō et Pīcumnō.[3] De Vaan likewise dates it from Varro,[4] while L&S thought it probably not earlier than Augustus.[5]

Semantic evolution

It means belonging to marriage, as in conjugal love and the gods who preside over marriage (Seneca, Tacitus).[2][3][6] It could also mean belonging to a husband or wife, and Columella calls the hens of a cock its coniugālis grex.[2][6] Inscriptions use it of a faithful spouse.[5][7] Pliny may use it as the name of a kind of myrtle.[2]

Church writers speak of conjugal faith and the conjugal bond, and of conjugal chastity beside that of virgins and widows.[7] In Medieval Latin it was also used as a noun, “husband” or “wife”.[8]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro speaks of the dī coniugālēs Pilumnus and Picumnus.[3][9]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca's Medea opens with an appeal to the dī coniugālēs.[3][9]
  • 1st century AD – Columella calls a cock's hens its coniugālis grex.[2][9]
  • 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the gods of marriage.[7][6][9]
  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of what belongs to a spouse.[2][9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of marriage, conjugal, marital;[2][5] (of gods) presiding over marriage.[2][5]
  2. Belonging to a husband or wife.[2][6]
  3. Consisting of wives (of a cock's hens).[2]
  4. (inscriptions, of a spouse) Faithful.[5][7]
  5. (doubtful) The name of a kind of myrtle.[2]

Noun

  1. (Medieval Latin) A spouse, husband or wife.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k 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. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de