MEDIA STUDIES
RESOURCES
Latin Roots of "Communication"
"Communication" is a word with a rich history. From the Latin communicare, meaning to impart, share, or make common, it entered the English language in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. The key root is mun- (not uni-), related to such words as "munificent," "community," "meaning," and Gemeinschaft. The Latin munus has to do with gifts or duties offered publicly--including gladitorial shows, tributes, and rites to honor the dead. In Latin, communicatio did not signify the general arts of human connection via symbols, nor did it suggest the hope for some kind of mutual recognition. Its sense was not in the least mentalistic: communicatio generally involved tangibles."
~John Durham Peters (1999, p. 7)
Related Latin Words
commuĝnicaĝ´ti/oĝ -oĝ´nis
f. imparting; (rhet.) making the audience appear to take part in the
discussion.
commuĝ´nic/oĝ -aĝ´re -aĝ´v iĝ -aĝ´tum vt. Share
(by giving or receiving); impart, communicate. coĝnsilia
&endash;&endash; cum make common cause with.
commuĝ´n/ioĝ -iĝ´re -iĝ´vi & -iiĝ -a´tum vt.
build (a fortification); fortify; strengthen.
commuĝ´ni/oĝ -oĝ´nis f. sharing in common, communion.
commuĝ´n/is a. common, general, universal; (person) affable,
democratic. -ia loca public places. -eĝs lociĝ general topics. -is
seĝnsus popular sentiment. Aliquid -e habeĝre have something in
common. -eĝ -is n. common property; state. in -e for a common end;
equally; in general. -iter adj. in common, jointly.
commuĝ´nt/aĝs -aĝ-tis f. fellowship; sense of fellowship;
affability.
commuĝniĝ´tioĝ -oĝ´nis f. preparing the way.
~Collins Latin Gem Dictionary (London, 1961)
COMMUNICATIONS
THEORY
History
of Communications Theory: Suggested
Readings
Exploring
Communications Theory
Seven
Main Traditions of Communications Theory
Some
quotes on communications
UNIVERSITY
OF ARIZONA
THEORIES
AND THEORISTS
COMMUNICATIONS
THEORY
CONCEPTS
AND NAMES
COMMUNICATION
THEORISTS
Michael
Bakhtin Center
Post-Colonial
Writers
McLuhan
University
of Iowa Communications Resources Portal
Merchants
of Cool
Hartman
Center of Advertising
Study
Cyberspace,
hypertext and critical
theory
History
and Effects of Information
Technologies
UCLA
MEDIA STUDIES PROJECT
American
Communications Association Media Studies
Portal
NEWSWATCH.org
Media
Giants: Who owns what
Communication
Institute for ON-Line Scholarship
Exploring
the Concept of the Tetrad
Pew
Internet And American Life
Survey
Social
and Economic Implications of Digital
Technologies
No
Medium Becomes Extinct
Museum
of Broadcast
Communications
American
Museum of the Moving
Image
Digital
Divide PBS
Survey:
TV Watching and
Excitement
Nielson
Media Services
The
Commodious Space of Digital
Media
World
Communications
Association
Media
Theory
American
Communication Association
The
December Project Portal on
Internet