conterminus

Forms

conterminus (feminine contermina, neuter conterminum); first/second-declension adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- (“with, together”) + terminus (“boundary”),^[2][3][4] and the TLL compares cōnfīnis.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short think it was perhaps first used by Ovid, and the TLL finds it from him on.^[5][3] In the Metamorphoses a mulberry tree stands gelidō contermina fontī, next to a cool spring.^[6][5]

Semantic evolution

Ovid uses it of a home bordering on the land of the speaker and of trees growing side by side.^[2][5] Mela and Pliny the Elder use it of countries, Pliny of Ethiopia bordering on Egypt,^[7][8] Lucan of kingdoms bordering on the Moors,^[2] and Tacitus of a river that forms a boundary.^[2] Statius takes it figuratively, of courage bordering on death.^[2][7] It takes the dative, and also the genitive or ablative.^[6][8]

As a noun it meant a neighbour: Columella doubts that anyone could bear Autolycus as a neighbour.^[2][7] The neuter named a border region.^[2][4] Medieval charters and chronicles kept the senses adjoining and neighbour,^[9][10] and it also meant close, similar, or a boundary.^[9]

Timeline

• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a tree beside a spring.^[6][11]
• 43/44 AD – Mela uses it of Alexandria bordering on Africa.^[7][11]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it as a noun, a neighbour.^[2][11]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it figuratively.^[2][11]
• 908 – Regino's chronicle uses the noun.^[11]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Having a common boundary with, bordering upon.^[2][5]
2. Forming a boundary.^[2]
3. Neighbouring, adjacent, close;^[2][7] (figurative) bordering on.^[2][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Closely related, similar.^[9]

Noun

1. A neighbour.^[2][5][10]
2. (neuter) A border region, frontier.^[2][4]

Related words

• terminus

References

1. ^ a b c 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. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
10. ^ a b 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
11. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de