corollary
corollary
Latin
“Surprisingly, corollary began as a little garland.”
Latin corollārium meant "a little garland" in the 1st century BCE. It came from corolla, a diminutive of corona, "crown." It was a gift or gratuity, given as an extra. The word signaled an added bonus.
By late antiquity, corollarium extended to mean an extra payment or added conclusion. The idea of an extra followed from the gift sense. Late Latin logic used it for a result that follows. The metaphor shifted from gift to inference.
French learned usage kept corollaire in the 14th century. It stayed within scholarly Latin and French texts. The form moved closer to the modern word. The sense was already logical.
English adopted corollary in the 15th century, with 1477 often cited. It entered academic logic and mathematics. The word kept the idea of something that follows from what came before. The modern usage preserves that inheritance.
Related Words
Today
A corollary is a result that follows directly from a proven statement. It is often used in mathematics and formal reasoning for an immediate consequence.
In general writing it is a natural consequence that comes after a stated claim. The word still carries the idea of an extra that follows. "After the proof, a gift."
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