coniugium

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [kɔnˈjʊ.ɡi.ũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [konˈjuː.d͡ʒi.um]^[1]

Forms

coniugium n (genitive coniugiī or coniugī); second declension^[1] Inscriptions have coiugio.^[2]

Etymology

It is from coniunx “spouse” or coniugō “to join”, with -ium, ultimately from con- and iungō “to join, yoke”.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ⟨iungō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *(H)yunégti (“yokes”), cognate with Sanskrit युनक्ति (yunákti, “yokes”) and Ancient Greek ζεύγνυμι (zeúgnumi, “to yoke”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation for marriage is Terence, and Accius has it of entering into marriage.^[2] Köbler dates Terence 190–159 BC and Accius 170–c. 90 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant marriage, wedlock, as in Terence; the entering into marriage, as in Accius; by metonymy a spouse; and in Lucretius any close union, such as corporis atque animae “of body and soul”.^[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means union, marriage, wedlock.^[7] British Medieval Latin used it with līberum for frank-marriage.^[8]

Timeline

• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of marriage.^[2][5]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of entering into marriage.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the union of body and soul.^[9][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. Marriage, wedlock.^[2][9]
2. Entry into marriage.^[2]
3. (by metonymy) A spouse.^[2]
4. A close union.^[2]

Word family

• coniugiālis

Related words

• coniunx
• coniugō
• iungō
• iugum
• English conjugal

Usage notes

Isidore of Seville derived it from the spouses being joined (coniūnctī), or from the yoke (iugum) by which they are coupled in marriage.^[10]

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 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 d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
10. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).