'Converse' is Latin for 'turn about together' — a conversation is people turning ideas back and forth.
As a verb, to talk informally with someone. As an adjective/noun, a situation or statement that is the reverse or opposite of another.
From Latin conversārī (to live with, to keep company, to turn about among), a frequentative form of conversus, past participle of convertere (to turn around, to turn completely), composed of con- (with, together, expressing thoroughness) + vertere (to turn), from PIE *wer- (to turn, to bend). The frequentative suffix -ārī adds iterative force: conversārī is to keep turning — back and forth repeatedly — which aptly describes dialogue. To converse is literally to turn about together: speech goes back and
In English before the eighteenth century, 'to converse' often meant 'to live with' or 'to have sexual intercourse with' — the Biblical sense of intimate association. The King James Bible uses 'conversation' to mean 'manner of life' or 'conduct,' not 'chat.' The modern restriction to 'informal talk' is a narrowing that occurred
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