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conversor

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [kɔnˈwɛr.sɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [koɱˈvɛr.sor][1]

Forms

conversor (present infinitive conversārī, perfect active conversātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + versor (“to dwell, be engaged in”),[1][2] the deponent of versō (“to turn often”), which is a frequentative of vertō (“to turn”).[1][2] Wiktionary traces that verb to Proto-Indo-European *wert- (“to turn”).[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest quotation in the OLD is from Seneca the Elder, who has it with a dative: conversāta es cruentīs, “you have kept company with bloodstained men”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to keep company or live with someone, with a dative or with cum,[2][3] and to frequent or stay in a place: Pliny the Elder says the eagle lives in the mountains,[2][4] and Columella uses it of young bees getting used to living with their parents without quarrels.[3] Seneca writes that people take on the character of those they live with, using the participle conversantēs as a noun.[3][4] The jurists, and later Tertullian, use it of how one conducts oneself or behaves.[2][4][3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means to dwell, live, abide and keep company with.[5]

Timeline

  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca writes of the people one lives among.[3][4][6]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of young bees.[3][6]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of the eagle's haunts.[2][6]
  • before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a son's conduct.[2][6]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of behaviour.[4][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To consort or associate with; as a noun, the present participle means an associate.[2][3][4]
  2. To frequent a place, stay or live there.[2][3]
  3. To conduct oneself, behave.[2][3]
  4. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To dwell, live, abide.[5]

Usage notes

Köbler records a separate noun conversor, formed from convertō, in a 4th-century commentary on Luke.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de