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Picture of BobHale
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I wondered if anyone has any insight into why the more common spelling for this word (meaning "in the same line") has a double L rather than a single L when the derivation of the word is clearly CO + LINEAR.

(It came up in an OEDILF workshop.)


"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
 
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Probably because the Latin prefix is com- before consonants and co- before vowels. The -m- tends to assimilate to the consonant it stands in front of: e.g., comprehend, collateral, conquest, consul, correct, etc. which are all from Latin words borrowed into English at various times in the past. If collinear was coined in English from the ISV and the coiner knew what to do (in terms of Latin morphology) that's what I'd expect to get. There are the Latin verb collinaro 'to aim straight' and the noun linea 'line'.


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it appears that the prefix here is actually col-, used as are com- and con-, but col- before l.

edit: mantling jim, but slightly expansive
 
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Dictionary.com says it's derived from col- + linear. The OED Online agrees.
 
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It's just a little odd because the limerick I was working on was coplanar and the word collinear was needed in the Author's note and it struck me as looking strange.

Nothing strange about it I see.


"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
 
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I prefer the single L because othewise one would expect it to be pronounced kaw-linear
 
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coplanar

Since it's not a word in Latin, I'd simply say that whoever coined it knew "little Latin and less Greek". Not that there's a problem with that.


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zm, just out of curiosity, how would you have coined a word within mathematics to mean "within the same plane"?


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Bob, copplanar, but I know that it looks weird now because we're used to coplanar. Such is life.


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Interesting. I couldn't find copplanar in OneLook.com, but I did find complanar . Neither word is in the OED Online. Here's what the OED Online says about co-. The last one (4), Bob, refers to mathematics.

quote:
co-, prefix

of Latin origin.

In Latin the preposition com- (which as a separate word was written in classical L. cum) was shortened to co- before vowels and h, also before gn-, e.g. coalescere, coerc{emac}re, coortus cohær{emac}re, cogn{amac}tus. Partly from the greater syllabic distinctness of this form of the prefix, arising out of the natural break between it and the following vowel, whereby also, on the break-down of the older quantitative system, the o became a long vowel, partly from the readiness with which some compounds of this type, as co-æqu{amac}lis, co-adj{umac}tor, co-episcopus, co-hæres, co-oper{amac}tor, co-opt{amac}re, were analysed into their elements, co[/o]- has come in English to be a living formative, the use of which is no longer restricted to words beginning with a vowel, but extended to all words of analogous kinds, including native English or other words, as well as those from Latin. The general sense is ‘together’, ‘in company’, ‘in common’, ‘joint, -ly’, ‘equal, -ly’, ‘reciprocally’, ‘mutually’. It combines (like L. [i]com-, con-, co-) with verbs, adjs., adverbs, and ns. It is sometimes prefixed to words of L. origin which are already compounded with com- (con-), as co-connexion, -conspirator, -constituent.
It occurs also as a variant form of words of L. origin or type, where the regular form is com-, con-, cor-: e.g. co-centric, co-natural, co-numerary, {dag}co-partment, co-relation, co-rival, co-temporary, co-terminous, and other occasional instances: cf. also co-citizen, co-join, co-mingle, with concitizen, conjoin, commingle, etc.
All the more important of these compounds appear in their alphabetical order as Main words: there follow here examples of compounds of rare occurrence and obvious meaning, or in which the combination is but for the nonce. It is notable how many of these are solely due to Bishop Ken.

1. Verbs.
Of a joint subject: as, co-engage to engage along with others, co-sustain to sustain jointly. Of a joint object: as, co-admit to admit (two or more things) equally, co-annex to annex (things) along with others. So
co-abound, {dag}-absume, -admire, -admit, -agonize, -animate, -annex, -annihilate, -apprehend, -ascend, -attend, -augment, -bewail, -bless, -breathe, -crucify, -decree, -delight, -derive, -die, -elevate, -embody, -employ, -enact, -endear, -enflame, -engage, -enjoy, -exert, -expire, -glorify, -harmonize, -hymn, -implore, -include, -infer, -inspire, -inter, -inthrone, -love, -oblige, -produce, -quicken, -raise, -rebel, -rejoice, -resign, -resort, -seat, -spire, -suffer, -sustain, -torment, -torture, -transfuse, -transpire, -transubstantiate, -twist, -vibrate, -worship.

2. Adjs. (often participial), and advbs.
Thus co-embedded embedded together, co-harmonious unitedly harmonious, co-intersecting intersecting mutually; thence adverbs, as co-harmoniously:
co-ambulant, -amiable, -apostate, -ardent, -boundless, -divine, -effluent, -effluential, -elongated, -embedded, -endearing, -enflaming, -featured, -foreknown, -glorious, -gracious, -harmonious (and -ly), -hellish, -immense, -incorporate, -intersecting, {dag}-like, -lovely, -mournful, -neighbouring, -omniscient, -penetrating, -pleased, -reflexed, -sounding, -transforate, -universal.

3. Substantives.
a. Of action, state, etc. co-abode, -administration, -admiration, -advice, -aid, -audience joint-hearing, {dag}-benignity, -connexion mutual connexion, {dag}-delight, -denization, -domestication, -emanation, {dag}-enamourment, -exertion, -explosion, {dag}-heartedness communion or unity of hearts, -indwelling, -infeftment, -interest, -life, -perception, -principate, {dag}-respect, -splendour, -tenure, -understanding, -use.

b. Agent-nouns (and derivatives of function, adjectives used substantively), etc. co-actor, -agriculturist, -aid, -ambassador, -apostate, -approver, -asserter, -believer, -burgess, -burgher(-ship), -churchwarden, -conspirator, -descendant, -despairer, -discoverer, -editor (-ship), -elder (-ship), -emperor, -enactor, -engager, -faster, -father (-ship), {dag}-fere, -fisher, -herald, -husband, -inmate, -inventor, -islander, -judge, -justiciar, -king, -legislator, -magistracy, -mourner, -murmurer, -nominee, -non-intelligent, -parallel, -parent, -patentee, -presbyter, -promoter, -rebel, -rival, -saviour, -settler, -species, -sufferer, -traitor, -translator, -tripper, -tutor, -twin, -villager, -votary.

c. Esp. common in the phraseology of Law, with the sense of ‘joint’ or ‘fellow-’, as CO-HEIR, CO-EXECUTOR, CO-DEFENDANT, etc.; also [/i][/b]co-acceptor, -assignee, -auditor, -contractor, -covenantor, -creditor, -debtor, -delinquent (-ency), -guarantor, -infeftment, -legatee, -lessee, -lessor, -mortgagee, -petitioner, -plaintiff, -projector, -promisor, -promoter, -purchaser, -sharer, -surety, -trustee.[/b][/i]

4. Math. (short for complement). Used in the sense ‘...of the complement’, or ‘complement of ...’: see COSINE, COTANGENT, COSECANT, CO-ALTITUDE, CO-DECLINATION, CO-LATITUDE.
 
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I couldn't find copplanar in OneLook.com

That's because it isn't a word. Bob, asked me how I would've coined it (vid. supra), and I told him. Then, I said, that my coinage looks weird, because we're used to coplanar. I am not suggesting that *copplaner replace coplanar, or that coplanar is wrong. Fortunately, there are words in com- + roots beginning in p in Latin, so we know how a Roman would've coined a word based on com- + -planaris.

Besides, I made a mistake in my haste to post. The coinage I should've come up with is *complanar. Cf. compare, compartment, compute. Again, NB, I am not suggesting that these forms be used or that they are correct in anyway, and I am most happy with coplanar.


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My comments were not meant to be a criticism of any kind, merely comments. I found your original post interesting because the word appeared to me be derived from Latin, and I couldn't understand. Your second post did make clear your objections, and I then understood. I posted the nonce co- words because I found them interesting. The co- seemed unnecessary or even redundant in many cases, and often just plain silly.
 
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quote:
Originally posted by tinman:
My comments were not meant to be criticisms of any kind, merely comments. I found your original post interesting because the word appeared to me to be derived from Latin, and I couldn't understand. Your second post did make clear your objections, and I then understood. I posted the nonce co- words because I found them interesting. The co- seemed unnecessary or even redundant in many cases, and often just plain silly.
 
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Sorry for the misunderstanding on my part, tinman. Yes, it is interesting that English has this other set of affixes and roots (the ISV) that it can build words with. Sometimes, they look like they're loans from Latin, and other times not.


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