International Encyclopedia of Communication Online

Extract

The word “communication” is descended from the Latin noun communicatio , which meant a sharing or imparting. From the root communis (common, public), it has no relation to terms such as union or unity , but rather is linked to the Latin munus (duty, gift), and thus has relatives in such terms as common , immune , mad , mean , meaning , municipal , mutual , and German terms such as Gemeinschaft (community) and Meinung (opinion). Its root senses have to do with change, exchange, and goods possessed by more than one person; the Latin verb communicare means to make common (→  Communication: Definitions and Concepts ). Three lasting strands of meaning are already visible in the Latin root. The first is communication as a mutual exchange in language. The Roman philosopher-statesman Cicero used communicatio as a technical term in his treatise on rhetoric, De Oratore , to explain what occurs when an orator overtly includes the audience in the discussion by means of rhetorical questions or staged dialogue (thus “sharing” the floor with listeners). (→  Rhetorical Studies ). The notion that communication involves some kind of mutual exchange between speaker and hearer(s) will be one of the defining features of the idea from Cicero onward. Here Cicero is extending communicatio 's basic sense of imparting to the realm of speech. A second strand is visible in the Vulgate, ... log in or subscribe to read full text