Etymologically
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correus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkɔr.re.ʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkɔr.re.us][1]

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]

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