consocer

Forms

cōnsocer m (genitive cōnsocerī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin con- (“with, together”) + socer (“father-in-law”).^[2][3][1] The second part goes back to Proto-Italic *swekuro- and Proto-Indo-European *suéḱuro- (“father-in-law”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Martial, in the sense of the father-in-law of one's child.^[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

The word named the relation between the fathers (and, in the feminine consocrus, the mothers) of a married couple.^[6] Suetonius uses it of Appius Silanus in the life of Claudius,^[3][6] and inscriptions from Venafrum of the 2nd century AD have it.^[3] Ulpian, in the Digest, deals with the case of two consoceri.^[3][6]

Timeline

• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it.^[3][5]
• c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in the life of Claudius.^[3][6][5]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it in a legal text preserved in the Digest.^[3][6][5]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius has the feminine consocrus.^[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The father-in-law of one's son or daughter; a joint father-in-law.^[2][6]

Related words

• socer
• socrus

Usage notes

The feminine counterpart is consocrus, the mother of one's son-in-law or daughter-in-law.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press