iunctio

Forms

iūnctiō f (genitive iūnctiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin iungō (“to join”) + -tiō.^[2][3][4] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *jung-e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *(H)iunégti (“to yoke”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero is the first to use it:^[6] in the De oratore of the joining of words, and in the Tusculan Disputations of the union of the parts that make up a living being, whose separation is death.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

It was always rare in Classical Latin, meaning a joining or union,^[2][3] the same as iūnctūra and coniūnctiō.^[7] An early Bible translation uses it of the joints of the body, where the Vulgate has coniunctiones.^[7]

Medieval Latin used it for a joining or combination,^[9] and 13th-century music theory for a ligature, a sign made of several notes joined together.^[10][9] The TLL notes continuants in Old French joinsson and in the dialect of Poitou.^[7] English took it as junction in 1711.^[11]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the joining of words and of parts.^[7][6]
• 13th century – Music theorists use it for a ligature.^[10]
• 1711 – English borrows it as junction.^[11]

Meanings

Noun

1. A joining, combination, union.^[2][3][8]
2. (rhetoric) The joining of words.^[8][7]
3. (Late Latin) A joint of the body.^[7]
4. (Medieval Latin, music) A ligature, a sign of several notes joined together.^[10]

Related words

• English junction

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
9. ^ 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
10. ^ a b c Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
11. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com