complexio Latin · revision 4151

15 Oct 2026, 21:12 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=Rhetorica ad Herennium|origins=la complector}}
+ 
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [kɔmˈpɫɛk.si.oː]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [komˈplɛk.si.o]^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Forms==
+ '''complexiō''' ''f'' (genitive complexiōnis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[af|la|complector|-tiō|t1=to embrace]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ 
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of a summary that briefly concludes an argument, and of the coalescing of letters.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates the work 86/82 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+ 
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant encircling, and a combination or group, as Cicero's combinations and couplings of atoms.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) In rhetoric and logic it was a summary, a dilemma in which either answer is refuted (“if he is wicked, why employ him; if good, why accuse him?”), and the fusion of vowels or syllables, synaeresis.^(OLD 2012) The TLL notes that it is found in prose writers such as the Rhetorica ad Herennium, Cicero, Seneca and Quintilian and often in later authors.^(TLL)
+ 
+ In Late Latin, from Firmicus Maternus, it meant the physical constitution of the body.^(Lewis & Short 1879) Medieval Latin used it for temperament and the combination of humours, and also for an embrace and a collection.^(Niermeyer 1976)^(MLW) English ''complexion'' is recorded from the mid-14th century, first of temperament.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Timeline==
+ * 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it as a rhetorical term.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of combinations of atoms and of the dilemma.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus uses it of bodily constitution.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * mid-14th century – English ''complexion'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+ 
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # Encircling, embracing.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # A combination, connection, group.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(rhetoric)'' A summary; a [[m|en|dilemma]]; [[m|en|synaeresis]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+ # ''(Late Latin)'' Physical [[m|en|constitution]], [[m|en|temperament]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Niermeyer 1976)
+ 
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[complexitās]]
+ * [[complector]]
+ * [[en|complexion]]
+ 
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}