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WonderWord origin

'Companion' comes from Late Latin companio, built from com, 'with', and panis, 'bread'. Literally, a companion is someone you share your bread with.

Etymology

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The Late Latin word first appears in the Lex Salica, a law code of the Franks written down in the 6th century, and was probably modelled on a Germanic word: Gothic had gahlaiba, 'messmate', built on hlaifs, 'bread', a relative of English 'loaf'. It passed through Old French compagnon into English around 1300, and 'company', 'accompany' and French copain, 'pal', belong to the same family. Many cultures still treat shared bread as a bond. In Slavic countries honoured guests are welcomed with bread and salt, and Turkish has tuz ekmek hakkı, 'the right of salt and bread': the moral claim a person has on someone they have fed and treated kindly.

Türkçe oku
İngilizcede arkadaş, yoldaş anlamına gelen “companion”, Geç Latincedeki companio'dan gelir. Sözcük “birlikte” anlamındaki com ile “ekmek” anlamındaki panis'ten oluşur; yani kelime anlamıyla “ekmeğini paylaşan” kişidir.

Latince companio'ya ilk kez, Frankların 6. yüzyılda yazıya geçirilen yasası Lex Salica'da rastlanır. Sözcük büyük olasılıkla bir Cermen sözcüğü örnek alınarak türetildi: Gotçadaki gahlaiba (“sofra arkadaşı”) da “ekmek” anlamına gelen hlaifs'ten yapılmıştı; İngilizcedeki loaf (somun) bu sözcüğün akrabasıdır. Companion, Eski Fransızcadaki compagnon üzerinden 1300 dolaylarında İngilizceye geçti; company (topluluk, şirket), accompany (eşlik etmek) ve Fransızcadaki copain (arkadaş) de aynı ailedendir. Ekmeği birlikte bölüşmek bugün de pek çok kültürde bir bağ sayılır. Slav ülkelerinde değerli konuklar ekmek ve tuzla karşılanır. Türkçedeki “tuz ekmek hakkı” da insanın, ekmeğini yedirip iyilik ettiği kişi üzerindeki manevi hakkıdır. Türkçe arkadaş sözcüğü ise arka ile ortaklık bildiren -daş ekinden gelir: birbirine arka çıkan, destek olan kişi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Bread and salt
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