Etymologically
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unio

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈuː.ni.oː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈuː.ni.o][1]

Forms

ūniō f or m (genitive ūniōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from ūnus “one” with the suffix -iō.[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Pliny, whom he dates 23/24–79 AD, and Lewis and Short cite Pliny for a single large pearl.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant a large single pearl, masculine, as in Pliny, Seneca and Martial, and the Historia Augusta has ūniōnēs Cleopatrānae.[2][3] In Christian Latin it meant the number one, oneness, unity, as in Jerome and Tertullian, and then union, as Jerome's Mary “made fruitful by union with God”.[3][5] Tertullian uses ūniō coniugiī of monogamy, and Isidore of the ace at dice.[5]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant union.[6] Medieval Latin used it of unity, the number one, and union.[7] English union came in the early 15th century through Anglo-French, of joining things into one.[8]

Timeline

  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny uses it of a pearl.[3][4]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of oneness.[3][5][4]
  • c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it of union with God.[3][4]
  • early 15th century – English union is recorded.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A large single pearl.[2][3]
  2. (Christian Latin) The number one, oneness, unity.[3]
  3. (Late Latin) Union.[3][6]
  4. The ace at dice.[5]

Word family

  • ūniscō

Usage notes

Columella reports that country people call a kind of onion ūniō.[3] Etymonline derives English onion from it through Anglo-French, but the OLD treats the onion word, with short u-, separately, and Wiktionary derives it from a Proto-Italic *uznjō, from Proto-Indo-European *wósh₂r̥ (“garlic, onion”).[3][2][8][1] A verb ūniō, ūnīre “to unite” is post-Augustan and very rare, as in Seneca.[2][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com