confinis Latin · revision 34263

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la fīnis}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [kõːˈfiː.nɪs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [koɱˈfiː.nis]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cōnfīnis''' (neuter cōnfīne); third-declension two-termination adjective^(Wiktionary)

+ A variant ''cōnfīnius'' occurs in some manuscripts of the ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' and in a scholiast on Juvenal.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|con-|fīnis|t1=together, with|t2=boundary]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan calls the etymology of [[m|la|fīnis]] disputed: Walde and Hofmann reconstruct ⟨*fīg-s-ni-⟩ “driven in”, of a boundary post, and it might also belong to [[ine-pro|*bʰiH-|t=to strike]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan records it first in Varro,^(de Vaan 2008) who writes of ''confines fundi'', neighbouring farms.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Köbler dates it from Caesar,^(Köbler 2010) who says ''confines erant hi Senonibus'', “these bordered on the Senones”.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Lewis and Short note that it is classical in prose and poetry but not used by Cicero.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It means having a common boundary, used absolutely or with a dative, as in Caesar, Livy and Nepos, and Ovid uses it of the place where the head meets the neck.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) As a noun ''confinis'' is a neighbour whose land adjoins one's own, in Gaius and Martial, and the neuter ''confine'' a boundary or border in Lucan and Valerius Flaccus.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Figuratively it means closely related or akin: Ovid has poems ''studio confinia vestro'', and Seneca says some vices border on virtues, ''sunt virtutibus vitia confinia'';^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lewis and Short find this use especially frequent in Quintilian.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In medieval Latin a ''confinis'' is a neighbour holding adjacent land and ''confines'' an adjoining territory,^(Niermeyer 1976) and British writers use the plural of neighbours and of borders, such as the marches of Scotland and England.^(DMLBS) It survives in Italian [[m|it|confine]].^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of neighbouring farms.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it with a dative of peoples whose lands adjoin.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it in the sense “akin”.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it as a noun for a neighbouring owner.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Adjective===

+ # Having a common boundary, [[m|en|adjacent]], neighbouring, [[m|en|contiguous]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+ # Closely connected, [[m|en|akin]], allied; of persons, closely attached.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|neighbour]] whose land adjoins one's own.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin, plural)'' An adjoining territory, the [[m|en|border|alt=borders]].^(Niermeyer 1976)^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[confinalis]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fīnis]]

+ * [[cōnfīnium]]

+ * [[affīnis]]

+ * [[en|confine]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes three words for neighbours: [[vīcīnus|alt=vīcīnī]] are neighbours by house and yard, [[fīnitimus|alt=fīnitimī]] those who live near the borders of others, in a purely geographical sense, and ''cōnfīnēs'' those who share a common boundary, with a suggestion of the friendship of neighbours.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}