The Facebook algorithm monster (or whatever it’s called) must
have spotted my search for Classical quiz questions. There are far more than I
realised, and quite a few to do with derivatives.
My Scots compatriot was confused about the construction,
and used two life-lines: she first consulted her “phone a friend” but was
not convinced by him. However,
the host was confident, and she completely trusted him. Consequently,
she got the correct answer: confluence.
The Latin preposition cum [+ ablative] means
‘(together) with’ and most commonly occurs when something is being done
together with somebody else although it can be used in other contexts:
Cum amīcō in viā ambulō. | I’m
walking with a friend in the street.
However, many Latin prepositions also act as prefixes;
they can be added to, for example, verbs to give a more precise indication of
the action:
(verb) eō: I go + (preposition) ex: out (of) > exeō:
I go out; ex is now acting as a prefix
The preposition cum can also act as a prefix, but
undergoes spelling changes. I don’t include all the meanings of each verb, some
of which can have multiple definitions, but the ones which clearly show how the
prefix is used.
currō: run > concurrō: run with others; ‘flock’
together
undique ex agrīs concurrērunt (Nepos):
From the fields they came together from every direction, i.e.
they were in separate locations but all ended up at the same place.
habitō: live > cohabitō: live together; cohabit
loquor: speak > colloquor: speak together; converse
claudō: lock; close + con- > conclūdō: finish; conclude
faciō: make > conficiō: complete; if
something is confected, it is produced by combining
different materials
I am keeping this to a fairly narrow definition since the
prefix may also be used with verbs where the basic idea is not always obvious,
but it usually conveys, for example, separate physical positions or unfinished parts
of a task that reach an “end point”. The sense of ‘together’ often underpins
the verbs.
The ‘end point’ in the quiz is where the separate rivers ‘flow
together’:
cōnfluō [3]: flow together; also of
people: come together in a crowd
> cōnfluēns: [which is] flowing together
> cōnfluentia, -ae [1/f]: (noun) flowing together; conflux
[A pronunciation / spelling shift occurs from La: -entia >
OFr: -ence]
> Old French: confluence
> Middle English: confluence, or confluens (Middle English
spelling is a bit ‘hit and miss’)
> Modern English: confluence
The prefix is in a wide range of nouns and verbs that were
borrowed mainly via French but have their origins in Latin, and the original
spellings of the prefix are retained:
collaborate; collect; collision;
commiserate; committee; community
concurrent; confer; conspire
It is also used to create new words:
co-author; co-direct; co-host;
co-ownership
Once again, we can see Germanic and Romance roots coexisting:
We can either watch two Germanic streams (OE: strēam) flowing (OE: flōwan) together (OE: tōgædere), or we can win quite a lot of cash by knowing what the confluence of rivers means!
PS: Stan, her "phone-a-friend", wasn't 50% right -
he was 100% right!
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