gemino

Forms

geminō (present infinitive gemināre, perfect active gemināvī, supine geminātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin geminus (“twin, double”) + -ō.^[2][3][1] De Vaan traces geminus to Proto-Italic *jemno- (“paired”) and Proto-Indo-European *iemH-no- (“paired, connected”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucilius uses it of doubling a letter, in ⟨pelliciendus⟩.^[2] The TLL finds it from Terence on,^[3] who has someone warn that a blow will be repeated.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to double in number or amount:^[2][5] Livy explains that six centuries are so called because they were doubled, and Quintilian uses it of doubling letters and words.^[2][5] Lucretius uses it intransitively, of furniture that seems to become double.^[2] It also means to repeat or do again, as Terence's repeated blow,^[2] to increase by adding something like it, as Tibullus' plunder that doubles the dangers of the sea,^[2] and to join two things into one: Livy has the city doubled, and Horace says that serpents are not paired with birds, nor lambs with tigers.^[2] Horace also has the Corybantes clashing bronze together.^[2] English geminate comes from its participle.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of doubling a letter.^[2]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of a repeated blow.^[2][3]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius of becoming double.^[2]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of doubled centuries.^[2]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of pairing unlike things.^[2]
• early 15th century – English geminate from the participle.^[6]

Meanings

Verb

1. To double; to double (a letter); to arrange in pairs.^[2][5][1]
2. (intransitive) To become double.^[2]
3. To repeat, do again.^[2][1]
4. To increase by adding something equal.^[2]
5. To join, unite; to pair (with); to bring together.^[2][1]

Word family

• congeminō
• geminatim
• geminātiō
• ingeminō

Related words

• geminus
• gemellus
• English geminate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com