# consolatio - con il solo



## Erszebet

Hi, 
I am translating a book from Italian, where the author incidentally stops at the word "consolatio", and claims it to originate from the "con il solo": to be with someone who is alone. I suppose this is just an imaginative etymology, but am not able to verify it. 
Can somebody help me? 
Thanks! 
E.


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## bearded

Hi



Erszebet said:


> I suppose this is just an imaginative etymology,


According to some etymologic dictionaries, _consolatio _is derived from the deponent verb _consolari _(composed by con<cum (intensifier) and solari (to comfort) from solus/sollus (the adjective meant 'whole, complete'  besides 'alone'), so the original meaning should be ''making someone complete again (after a loss)'' > 'comforting'.

In Italian, 'solo'  means alone, and I think that the author of the book was influenced by his mother tongue - and indicated a folk etymology.
I hope that etymologists better than myself will confirm the above.


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## Scholiast

Greetings all—and to Erszebet, a hearty welcome to the Latin forum.

_Barbatus noster _(# 2) is quite right, there is no connexion, so yes, Erszebet's Italian author's idea is a folk-etymology. _OLD_ (s.v. _solus_) declares '[prob. cognate with _se_]', and I am tempted to try to devise a connexion with Greek ὅλος, but this (possibly outrageous) notion would have to be tempered in the fire of the EHL Forum's experts.

Σ


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## bearded

Scholiast said:


> a connexion with Greek ὅλος,


and even with..... English _whole_?


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## Scholiast

saluete de nouo

_A propos_ bearded's # 4: this is I believe indeed established philological orthodoxy. Oddly enough it occurred to me already in my teens when I was only a year or two into learning Greek.

Σ

Edited afterthought: German _heil_ as well.


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## Erszebet

Thanks a lot for a hearty welcome and quick help! 
Greetings from Prague!


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## fdb

Greek holos is cognate with Latin salvus, Sanskrit sarva-, and other forms, with IE *s- becoming Greek h-. English whole, hale, heal etc are not cognate with these, but reflect an IE *k- becoming Germanic h-.


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## Sobakus

bearded said:


> According to some etymologic dictionaries, _consolatio _is derived from the deponent verb _consolari _(composed by con<cum (intensifier) and solari (to comfort) from solus/sollus (the adjective meant 'whole, complete'  besides 'alone'), so the original meaning should be ''making someone complete again (after a loss)'' > 'comforting'.


_sōlārī_ "to comfort" is not directly dervied from _sōlus _"alone", which is a whole (  ) different word from _sollus_ "whole". The latter is related to _salvus_ "whole, healthy" more or less like the two English translations are related to each other. _sōlārī_ < *sōlha- "mercy, comfort" is probably related to _sollus _< *_solha-n-os_, being just a lengthened ablaut gradation of the latter, though I don't see a good way to connect the two semantically. It's reflected by AGr. as ἱλάσκομαι, similarly denominal (as Latin a-verbs normally are) to ἵλαος. _sōlus_ might ultimately be of the same provenance as _sollus _in the proto-language, via the metonymy "whole" > "one" > "alone", but formed differently in any case.


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## A User

Sobakus said:


> _sōlārī_ < *sōlha- "mercy, comfort" is probably related to _sollus_


Please, check my guess instead of Ottorino Piangiani:
Solor, aris, atus sum, ari is related to sŏlum, i: (IT) base, sostegno, supporto ⇒ sostenere, supportare.
(fig.) sostegno morale ⇒ confortare.
Etimologia : consolare;


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## Sobakus

A User said:


> Please, check my guess instead of Ottorino Piangiani:
> Solor, aris, atus sum, ari is related to sŏlum, i: (IT) base, sostegno, supporto ⇒ sostenere, supportare.
> (fig.) sostegno morale ⇒ confortare.
> Etimologia : consolare;


Temo che un dizionario etimologico di italiano vecchio di 110 anni sia abbastanza inutile per verificare anche l'etimologia delle parole italiane - e del tutto inutile nel caso del latino. Per quest'ultimo, troverai più utile De Vaan 2008 e le altre fonti elencate nella prima pagina della bibliografia (a cui mi sono collegato), come Walde & Hoffmann. Il verbo formato dalla base di *_sol-_ "base, suolo, luogo" (con parole imparentate come Ru. _seló _"villaggio", Ted. _Saal_ "sala") e forse _solēre_ "avere l'abitudine": cf. una relazione simile tra _habitāre _e _habitus._

Inoltre considero improbabile un tale cambiamento di significato come "basarsi" > "confortare, alleviare", tanto meno in greco e latino nello stesso tempo.


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