constipatio

Forms

cōnstīpātiō f (genitive cōnstīpātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cōnstīpō (“to press or crowd together”) + -tiō.^[2][3] The verb is made of con- and stīpō (“to compress, surround”);^[4] de Vaan thinks this verb seems to be based on an adjective Proto-Italic *stei/īpo-, from Proto-Indo-European *steip-o- (“stiff, erect”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first example is from the Latin Panegyrics, of a battle line that no crowding together had made shorter;^[3] Ammianus Marcellinus has it for a dense throng of soldiers.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it meant a pressing together and, concretely, a dense crowd: Ammianus, the Historia Augusta, Augustine and Jerome use it of soldiers and people.^[6][2][7] Augustine also uses it for the thickening of the air.^[2]

Medieval Latin kept the senses “throng” and “crowd”^[8][9] and made it a medical term for the stopping up of the bowels, constipation,^[8][9] the sense in which English borrowed it.^[4]

Timeline

• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it for a dense crowd of soldiers.^[6][2][10]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it for a throng of people and for the condensing of air.^[2][10]
• c. 1400 – English borrows it as constipation for costiveness.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A crowding together, concentration (of an army).^[6][11][7]
2. A dense crowd, throng.^[6][2][7]
3. Condensation (of air).^[2]
4. (Medieval Latin, medicine) Constipation.^[8][9]
5. (Medieval Latin) A stopping up.^[8]

Related words

• English constipation

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c 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
10. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
11. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.