conventiculum

Forms

conventiculum n (genitive conventiculī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is a diminutive of conventus “meeting”, with -culum, from conveniō “to come together”, from con- and veniō “to come”.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces ⟨veniō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *gʷm̥-ye/o- (“to come”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is Cicero, of a small assembly.^[2] Köbler dates Cicero 81–43 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant a small assembly, meeting, association, as in Cicero's conventicula hominum, gatherings of men which later were called states; and in Tacitus a place of resort.^[2][6][7]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means assembly, meeting.^[8] Medieval Latin used it for a conventicle, and British Medieval Latin especially for an unofficial or unlawful assembly.^[9][10]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a gathering.^[2][5]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of a place of resort.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A small assembly, meeting.^[2][6]
2. A place of resort.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A conventicle, an unlawful assembly.^[9][10]

Related words

• conventus
• conveniō
• veniō
• English conventicle

References

1. ^ a b 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. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
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