coniunx Latin · revision 8457
16 Oct 2026, 16:03 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
Initial text
@@ -0,0 +1,41 @@
+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *yewg-}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈkɔn.juːŋks]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈkɔn.juŋks]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''coniūnx''' ''m'' or f (genitive coniugis); third declension^(Wiktionary)
+ The form ''coniux'' is also common, and inscriptions have ''coiux'' and ''coius''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is from [[con-]] “together” and the root of [[iugum]] “yoke” and [[iungō]] “to join”.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Its root is Proto-Indo-European ⟨*yewg-⟩ “to join”.^(Köbler 2010) The OLD and Wiktionary compare [[grc|σύζυγος|tr=súzugos|t=yoked together; spouse]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation for “husband” is from Plautus, whom Köbler dates c. 250–184 BC.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ It meant a marriage partner, a husband or a wife, and Accius uses it of a wife or bride, and it was also used of a concubine.^(OLD 2012) Ovid uses it of the mate of an animal, Columella of the elm that partners a vine, and Apuleius of a fellow worker.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ Bede and other British Medieval Latin writers used it for a husband or wife.^(DMLBS) It was borrowed into Italian ''coniuge'' and Spanish ''cónyuge''.^(Wiktionary) Its adjective ''coniugālis'' gave [[en|conjugal]] in the 1540s.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a husband.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 170–c. 90 BC – Accius uses it of a wife.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of animals.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 1540s – English ''conjugal'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A [[m|en|spouse]], [[m|en|husband]] or [[m|en|wife]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # (of animals) A mate.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A fellow worker.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[iungō]]
+ * [[iugum]]
+ * [[coniugium]]
+ * [[en|conjugal]]
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}