-cum-

By Deane Barker • • tags: language, latin •
Updates
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This is a prepositional phrase from Latin which means “with.” So “X-cum-Y” means “X with Y.”

Incidentally, this is where the degree honors come from:

Why I Looked It Up

I had seen the phrase/qualifier many times. Recently, I was reading a novel where a character reflected on her purchase of a “radio-cum-record player.”

Update

Added on

I found this The First Man in Rome:

In fact, Marius had displayed his usual genius in sending Sulla rather than Manius Aquillius, who might also have proven his worth as a watchdog-cum-guardian…

I feel like the conjunction “and” is implied there, more than “with.”

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