Etymologically
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coniuro

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔnˈjuː.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [konˈjuː.ro][1]

Forms

coniūrō (present infinitive coniūrāre, perfect active coniūrāvī, supine coniūrātum); first conjugation[1] The Senatus consultum de Bacchanalibus has the archaic perfect infinitive coniourase.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- (“with, together”) + iūrō (“to swear”).[2][3][1] De Vaan derives iūrō from iūs (“law, oath”) through a denominative verb Proto-Italic *jowes-ā-je-, and iūs from an s-stem Proto-Italic *jowos, which he takes back to a Proto-Indo-European word for vital force.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example in the OLD is the decree of the Senate on the Bacchanalia, which forbids anyone to swear together with others.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is first to take an oath together, as when Caesar has the young men of Italy sworn in for service, and of states to form a league by oath: Virgil has all Latium binding itself in alarm.[2][5] More often it is to join in a plot or conspiracy, as in Cicero's “I would rather have conspired than resisted the conspiracy”.[2] A scholiast on Horace says that conspiring is sometimes said of good men, but coniurāre only of bad.[3] The perfect participle has active sense, and coniūrātī are the sworn conspirators.[5][1] The poem Aetna uses it of winds acting in unison.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of young men sworn in for service.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of joining a conspiracy.[2][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of Latium binding itself together.[2][5][6]
  • late 13th century – English conjure, first “command on oath”, is borrowed through Old French and directly.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To swear together, take an oath together; of enemies, to form a league.[2][5][1]
  2. To conspire, join in a plot.[2][5][1]
  3. (poetic) Of things, to act in unison.[2]

Word family

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d 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 c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com