comitatus

English

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from Latin comitatus, from comes (“companion”). Doublet of county, from Anglo-Norman/Old French.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɒmɪˈteɪtəs/

  Rhymes: -eɪtəs

Noun

comitatus (plural comitatuses or comitati or comitatus)

1. (historical) A group of warriors or nobles accompanying a king or other leader.
2. (historical) A county, shire.

Related terms

• posse comitatus

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [kɔ.mɪˈtaː.tʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ko.miˈtaː.tus]

Etymology 1

Perfect active participle of comitor.

Participle

comitātus (feminine comitāta, neuter comitātum); first/second-declension participle

1. having accompanied, guarded, served, attended

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	comitātus	comitāta	comitātum		comitātī	comitātae	comitāta
genitive	comitātī	comitātae	comitātī		comitātōrum	comitātārum	comitātōrum
dative	comitātō	comitātae	comitātō		comitātīs
accusative	comitātum	comitātam	comitātum		comitātōs	comitātās	comitāta
ablative	comitātō	comitātā	comitātō		comitātīs
vocative	comitāte	comitāta	comitātum		comitātī	comitātae	comitāta

Derived terms

• incomitātus

Etymology 2

Perfect passive participle of comitō.

Participle

comitātus (feminine comitāta, neuter comitātum); first/second-declension participle

1. accompanied, guarded, served, attended
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 2.579–580:

     ‘ […] coniugiumque, domumque, patrēs, nātōsque vidēbit,
     Īliadum turbā et Phrygiīs comitāta ministrīs?’

     ‘And [Helen] will [again] see her husband, home, parents, and children, attended by her train: Trojan [women] and Phrygian slaves?’
     (An expression of surprise or indignation posed as a question.)

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	comitātus	comitāta	comitātum		comitātī	comitātae	comitāta
genitive	comitātī	comitātae	comitātī		comitātōrum	comitātārum	comitātōrum
dative	comitātō	comitātae	comitātō		comitātīs
accusative	comitātum	comitātam	comitātum		comitātōs	comitātās	comitāta
ablative	comitātō	comitātā	comitātō		comitātīs
vocative	comitāte	comitāta	comitātum		comitātī	comitātae	comitāta

Etymology 3

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *ḱe?

Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm

Proto-Italic *kom

Proto-Italic *kom-

Latin con-

Latin com-

Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey-

Proto-Indo-European *-ts

Proto-Indo-European *-h₁its

Proto-Italic *-its

Latin -es

Latin comes

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₂

Proto-Indo-European *-yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-eh₂yéti

Proto-Indo-European *-h₂tiinflu.

Proto-Italic *-ājō

Proto-Italic *-āō

Latin -ō

Latin comitor

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Italic *-tus

Latin -tus

Latin comitatus

From comitor + -tus (forming action nouns).

Noun

comitātus m (genitive comitātūs); fourth declension

2. company or troop of soldiers
3. an escort or attending multitude, especially an imperial escort or retinue
4. combination, association
6. county

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	comitātus	comitātūs
genitive	comitātūs	comitātuum
dative	comitātuī	comitātibus
accusative	comitātum	comitātūs
ablative	comitātū	comitātibus
vocative	comitātus	comitātūs

Derived terms

• comitātēnsis

Descendants

• Asturian: condáu
• Catalan: comtat
• Old French: conté
  • Anglo-Norman: counté, conté
    • → Middle English: counte
      • English: county
    • → Irish: contae
  • Middle French: comté, conté
    • French: comté
  • → Italian: contea
• Italian: contado
• Occitan: comtat
• Portuguese: condado
• Sicilian: cuntatu
• Spanish: condado
• → English: comitatus (learned)
• → German: Komitat (learned)
  • → Romanian: comitat
• → Polish: komitat (learned)
• → Serbo-Croatian: komitat (learned)

Further reading

• “cŏmĭtātus¹”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “cŏmĭtātus²”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “comitātus¹”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “comitātus²”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “cŏmĭtātus¹”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, pages 348/1–2.
• “cŏmĭtātŭs²”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette, page 348/2.
• "comitatus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• comitatus in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976), “comitatus”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, pages 207–209