Etymograph

English

conglomerate

Conglomerate comes from Latin conglomerō ‘to pile into a heap, to roll together’, and goes back to glomus.

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEglomus
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEglomerō‘to glomerate, make into a ball, pile in a heap’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEconglomerō‘to pile into a heap, to roll together’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEconglomerātusperfect passive participle of conglomerō
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1631conglomerate

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed

Lineage

  1. Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEglomus
  2. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEglomerō‘to glomerate, make into a ball, pile in a heap’
  3. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEconglomerō‘to pile into a heap, to roll together’
  4. Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEconglomerātusperfect passive participle of conglomerō
  5. Englishearliest quotation 1631conglomerate

Earliest quotation: 1631, Francis Bacon, III. Century. [Consent of Visibles, and Audibles.]: “The Beames of Light, when they are multiplied and…”

The story

First attested in the second part of the 16ᵗʰ century; from Latin conglomerātus, perfect passive participle of conglomerō (‘to pile into a heap, to roll together’) (see -ate (Etymology 1, 2 and 3)), from con- (prefix indicating a being or bringing together of several objects) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm (‘beside, by, near, with’)) + glomerāre (from glomerō (‘to pile into a heap, to make into a ball, glomerate’), from glomus (‘ball of thread; ball-shaped mass’), from Proto-Indo-European *gel- (‘to form into a ball; ball’)).

Every English word from Latin glomus

Today it means

noun A cluster of heterogeneous things.

Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.

Etymograph / Latin glomus / conglomerate

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