Origin of contigo and similar "contractions"?

Question

What's the history of the words *contigo*, *conmigo*, etc?They're treated like contractions for *con ti* and *con mi*, respectively, but they actually make the word _longer_ rather than shorter, as contractions ought to do.It occurs to me that there are a whole host of other words in Spanish that have similar spellings and functions (*amigo*, *enemigo*, etc) , how do they fit into this puzzle?Are *ti* and *mi* shortened versions of previously used pronouns *tigo* and *migo*, or something? This would make the meaning of *amigo* clear: *a-* (not) *migo* (me)

Answer 1

Conmigo, contigo

Si en conmigo, contigo se ha consumado la fusión en una palabra es por la dificultad de identificar el componente -go (lat. cum) o el grupo -migo. Los pronombres mi y ti constituyen por consiguiente, un caso de la declinación pronominal española entre otros y no hay razón para hacerlos aparecer en el paradigma flexivo acompañados de una o de muchas preposiciones: de, en, por, sin, sobre, tras mí, y mucho menos para dar a otros grupos de denominación de caso ablativo, ni siquiera por consideraciones etimológicas, porque latin trans = esp. y lat. super=esp. sobre rigen acusativo en latín.

Answer 2

So you are looking for the *etymology* of these prepositional phrases. Try not to think of these phrases as contractions, and don't look for connections to the other words you listed - they're not related to this etymology. Conmigo (with me) is a derivative or cum mecum (latin) which was first spoken as "con mi" - over time this expression changed due to influences from outside languages. The opposite happened with the Italian language, as today, we say "con me", but historically and directly derived from latin "conmeco" was the common expression.

Please let me know if this was clear.