consolido

Forms

cōnsolidō (present infinitive cōnsolidāre, perfect active cōnsolidāvī, supine cōnsolidātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + solidō (“to make solid”).^[2][1] The TLL derives it from solidō or directly from the adjective solidus (“solid”),^[3] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *soliþo- and Proto-Indo-European *solh2-i-dhh1-o- (“entire”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Vitruvius is the first to use it, of the Greeks who build walls into one continuous, solid thickness.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

L&S notes that it does not appear before the Augustan age.^[5] Besides the literal sense of making something firm or thick, it became a legal term: the jurists use it of a usufruct that is merged with the ownership of the property, as in Ulpian.^[2][5][7]

In Christian Latin it was used figuratively, “to strengthen”: the Vulgate has it of the weak who were not made strong, and of tent pegs driven in firmly.^[8][9] Augustine uses it of temples and stones held together with iron and lead.^[5] English took the past participle over in the 16th century as consolidate.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of building walls of one solid thickness.^[2][6]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a usufruct merged with the property.^[2][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it figuratively, of strengthening the weak.^[8][6]
• 1510s – English borrows the participle as consolidate.^[10]

Meanings

Verb

1. To make solid or firm; to condense, make thick.^[2][5][3]
2. (law) To merge a usufruct into the property it belongs to; to consolidate.^[2][5][7]
3. (Late Latin) To strengthen, make firm.^[8][7][9]

Word family

• cōnsolidātiō
• cōnsolidātor
• cōnsolida

Related words

• persolidō
• solidō
• English consolidate

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g 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 f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
9. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com