Word: companion

A companion is one you share bread with. The word is Latin com- ("with") plus panis ("bread") — companio, a bread-fellow, the person at your table. Set it beside the other relation-words: a partner is one who shares a division; a covenant is a coming-together; a companion is named by neither the split nor the approach but by the meal. The Latin did not invent the metaphor: companio is almost…