subiungo

Forms

subiungō (present infinitive subiungere, perfect active subiūnxī, supine subiūnctum); third conjugation^[1] It is also spelled subjungō.^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sub- (“under”) + iungō (“to join, yoke”).^[2][3] De Vaan traces iungō to the nasal present Proto-Indo-European *(H)iunégti (“yokes”), cognate with Sanskrit युनज्मि (yunájmi, “I yoke”) and Ancient Greek ζεύγνυμι (zeúgnumi, “to yoke”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest citations in the OLD are Lucretius, of things set underneath on which the earth trembles from above, and Cicero, in the speech on the soothsayers' reply, of words added at the end of it.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Lewis & Short call the sense of yoking rare: Virgil has tigers yoked to a chariot, Columella oxen to a cart and Vitruvius oxen yoked under carts.^[5][2] From yoking came the sense of subjecting, as Virgil says that no Italian may bring so great a people under his rule.^[2] More generally it is to attach something in a subordinate place, as Varro does in grammar,^[2] to make one thing follow another, as Columella of hoeing after weeding,^[2] and to add in speech or writing.^[2][5] Stelten gives “add, add to, unite to, say again”.^[6] English subjoin comes from it through French.^[3]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius, of placing beneath.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero, of adding words.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil, of yoking tigers and of subjugating a people.^[2][5][7]
• 1570s – English subjoin, through French.^[3]

Meanings

Verb

1. To yoke, harness (animals).^[2][5][1]
2. To bring under control, subjugate.^[2]
3. To fix under or below; to place in a subordinate position, subordinate.^[2][1]
4. To make follow next; to add, append, subjoin (in speech or writing).^[2][5][1][6]

Word family

• subiūnctīvus

Related words

• iungō
• English subjoin
• English subjunctive

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
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 d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de