English
copulation
Copulation comes from Latin copulo ‘to join, unite, connect’, from cōpula ‘a tie, binding’, and ultimately from apiō ‘to join’.
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEapiō‘to join’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōpula‘a tie, binding’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcopulo‘to join, unite, connect’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600copulation
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1909same form
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history uncertain.
Lineage
- Latinc. 75 BCE–200 CEapiō‘to join’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcōpula‘a tie, binding’
- Latin, derivedc. 75 BCE–200 CEcopulo‘to join, unite, connect’
- Middle Frenchc. 1400–1600copulation
- Englishearliest quotation c. 1909same form
Earliest quotation: c. 1909, Mark Twain, Letters from the Earth: “Solomon, who was one of the Deity's favorities, had…”
Linked words
through Proto-Italic *apjō
through Latin apiō ‘to join’
adapt, adept, couplet, 16 more
through Latin cōpula ‘a tie, binding’
through Latin copulo ‘to join, unite, connect’
Today it means
noun The act of coupling or joining; union; conjunction.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Latin apiō / copulation