constringo

Forms

cōnstringō (present infinitive cōnstringere, perfect active cōnstrīnxī, supine cōnstrictum); third conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + stringō (“to draw tight, bind”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces this sense of ⟨stringō⟩ to Proto-Italic *strenge/o- (“to tie”) and Proto-Indo-European *strengʰ- (“to draw, tie”), cognate with Ancient Greek στραγγός (strangós, “twisted”) and Old Norse strengja (“to bind together”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan lists the compounds of ⟨stringō⟩ from Plautus,^[4] in whom someone is told to tie a man's hands.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is “to tie together, bind”, of hands and clothing, and of prisoners put in bonds;^[2][5] Cato warns not to tie a vine too tightly.^[2][5] It extends to confining and hindering, to bounding and limiting, and to restraining persons and actions: Cicero tells Catiline that his conspiracy is held fast by everyone's knowledge.^[2] It is also to contract, to compress a subject into few words (Seneca), to hold together or make cohere, to freeze snow solid, and to tone up the body.^[2]

Church Latin glosses it “bind fast, restrain”.^[6] English constrain (early 14th century, through Old French) and constrict (1732) come from it.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of tying hands.^[2][8]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of tying vines.^[2][8]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of a conspiracy held in check.^[2][8]
• early 14th century – English constrain.^[7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To tie together, bind, tie up; to put in bonds; to tie tightly, squeeze.^[2][5][1][6]
2. To confine, hold down; to hinder.^[2][1]
3. To bound, limit.^[2]
4. To restrain, inhibit, control.^[2][1][6]
5. To contract, lessen; to compress in words.^[2][1]
6. To hold together; to make solid, freeze; to tone up the body.^[2]

Word family

• cōnstrictiō
• constrictiuus
• constricto
• constrictura
• cōnstrictus

Related words

• stringō
• English constrain
• English constrict

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o 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. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de