Etymologically

cooperativus

Etymology and origin of the Latin word cooperativus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
first quarter of the 6th century AD, Boethius
Ultimate origin
Latin cooperor
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin operor
Latin cooperor
Latin cooperativus
English cooperative

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ko.ɔ.pɛ.raːˈtiː.wʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ko.o.pe.raˈtiː.vus][1]

Forms

cooperātīvus (feminine cooperātīva, neuter cooperātīvum); first/second-declension adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin cooperor (“to work together”) + -īvus.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Boethius, in his translation of Aristotle's Topics, of something that helps another in some way.[2][4][3]

Semantic evolution

It is rare until the scholastics.[2][5] Albertus Magnus, commenting on the same passage of the Topics, where Aristotle has Ancient Greek συνεργόν (sunergón), explains it as helping, as it were propping up,[5] and uses it of a kind of knowledge that works together with experience;[5] Stephen Langton, Robert Grosseteste and Roger Bacon use it in their philosophical writings.[6] In Ecclesiastical Latin it means cooperative.[7] English cooperative, formed on the Latin stem of ⟨cooperātus⟩, is recorded from about 1600.[8]

Timeline

  • first quarter of the 6th century AD – Boethius uses it in his translation of the Topics.[2][3]
  • c. 1600 – English cooperative is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) Working together, helping, cooperative.[2][4][7][5][6][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ 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
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Cooperativus.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/cooperativus. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

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