TBT: Etymology of CONGREGATE
The etymology of ‘congregate’.
Congregate (pronounced: ’kɒŋɡrɪɡeɪt, ‘kon-g-ri-g-ay-t’): v. trans “To collect or gather (things) together in a mass or crowd” according to the Oxford English Dictionary. Of Latin roots.
‘Congregate’ is a participial of the Latin stem ‘congregāre’, meaning ‘to collect into a flock or company’. The whole ‘flock’ thing? Usually pertains to animals, and to support that, the etymology is also linked to ‘herd’. It’s not a far stretch, therefore, to suggest that ‘congregate’, a word usually associated with humans nowadays, used to be reserved primarily for our four-legged friends.
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