correus

Forms

correus m (genitive correī); second declension^[1] Also spelled conreus.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + reus (“defendant”).^[2][5][1] De Vaan connects reus with rēs (“thing; matter, case”) and suggests, with a question mark, Proto-Italic *rei-wo- (“of wealth”), whence “of a case”.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD, the TLL and Georges cite it from Ulpian in the Digest (34.3.3.3), meaning a joint defendant, one accused together with another.^[2][5][7] Köbler dates Ulpian before 223 AD.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short render it as a partner in guilt,^[3] and Stelten gives it in Ecclesiastical Latin as a fellow criminal.^[8] In British Medieval Latin it is a fellow defendant or accomplice: an Oxford formulary of 1304 counts as correī of a crime those who approve it, and Adam Usk's chronicle, under the year 1400, asks whether other nobles bound with someone, corei seu confidejussores, must contribute.^[9] Italian correo comes from it.^[10]

Timeline

• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a joint defendant.^[5][4]
• 1304 – An Oxford formulary uses it of accomplices in a crime.^[9]
• 1400 – Adam Usk's chronicle uses it of persons bound jointly.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A joint defendant, one accused together with another.^[2][5][7]
2. A partner in guilt, an accomplice.^[3][8][9]

Related words

• reus
• rēs

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b c d 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
10. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier