Connexioun

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. An archaic term for the act or state of joining things together in a link or union ; a close bond, kinship or relationship between people
2. A Middle English word meaning a binding together of parts into one whole ; a tie of affection, kinship or association that unites persons
3. The joining of separate things into a single linked whole ; the kinship, alliance or close association that binds two or more people together

Etymology: Its spelling reflects its route into English. Middle English writers took the Latin noun "connexio" and adapted it, and "connexioun" keeps the Latin "x" while using the ending that English often wrote for French "-ion" sounds at the time. The Latin noun came from the verb "connectere", built from "con-", meaning "together", and "nectere", meaning "to tie or bind." The idea at the root is literal binding, and the noun names the act or result of tying things into one. The sense "a joining together" grows directly from that physical image of parts fastened to one another. Through Old French, "connexion" carried the same core meaning into English. Earlier English had its own words for binding and joining, but this Latin-derived term offered a more formal way to describe a linking of parts.