My question is "how did it come to mean 'talk' in the 1570s?"mid-14c., "living together, having dealings with others," also "manner of conducting oneself in the world;" from O.Fr. conversation, from L. conversationem (nom. conversatio) "act of living with," from conversat-, pp. stem of conversari "to live with, keep company with," lit. "turn about with," from L. com- "with" (see com-) + vertare, frequentative of vertere (see versus). Specific sense of "talk" is 1570s. Used as a synonym for "sexual intercourse" from at least 1511, hence criminal conversation, legal term for adultery from late 18c. Related: Conversationalist; conversationist.
Conversation
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Conversation
I woke up this morning with this word (conversation) in my head - wondering how it came to mean what it does these days, so I came to the Dr. GoodWord to see if it had been discussed and apparently it has not. I thought I'd offer it up as a candidate. I looked it up on one of my favorite etymology sites (http://www.etymonline.com) and found:
Life is short, but it's wide!
-- Chuck Pyle --
-- Chuck Pyle --
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New Testament reference...
interesting... (about the New Testament reference as well as your coming through Conway.... )
I looked at an online bible concordance for all instances of "Conversation" and found that in about half the occurrences, it seemed to mean specifically dialogue, but in the other half, either meaning could be substituted without destroying the meaning of the phrase...
I looked at an online bible concordance for all instances of "Conversation" and found that in about half the occurrences, it seemed to mean specifically dialogue, but in the other half, either meaning could be substituted without destroying the meaning of the phrase...
Life is short, but it's wide!
-- Chuck Pyle --
-- Chuck Pyle --
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