Etymologically
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exaequo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɛkˈsae̯.kʷoː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eɡˈzɛː.kʷo][1]

Forms

exaequō (present infinitive exaequāre, perfect active exaequāvī, supine exaequātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + aequō (“to make level, equal”).[2][1] The verb aequō is made from aequus (“level, equal”),[3] which probably goes back to ⟨*aikʷos⟩, though de Vaan finds no convincing etymology.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first example in the OLD is in Plautus, “we'll make up silver with silver”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to make completely level or smooth, as Varro's entrance levelled with plaster, and in the Bellum Hispaniense mounds made level with mounds.[2][4] It also means to make equal or put on the same footing, as Cicero's man who had made all rights equal for a price, to make up for something, and to be equal to or match, as in the Rhetorica ad Herennium.[2] Church Latin glosses it “equal, make equal”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of making up silver with silver.[2][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of a levelled entrance.[2][6]
  • 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium of syllables that match.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of rights made equal for a price.[2][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make level, smooth out.[2][4]
  2. To make equal, put on the same footing.[2][5][1]
  3. To compensate for, make up for.[2][1]
  4. To equal, match.[2]

Word family

  • exaequātiō

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 l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de