David Zapatka
Longtime friend, wordsmith, and fellow verbivore Bill Lewis recently sent me a summary of the Missouri State Games table tennis results where he presides as the grand master tournament director. He writes, “In a Johnny Quest race for first place in the Under 2100 division, there were 12 hardy corrivals.”
Corrival—cor·ri·val noun 1: rival, a fellow competitor or one who vies with another in pursuit of the same object or goal.
Origin and Etymology—The word “corrival” stems from the combination of the prefix “co-” meaning “together” and the Latin root “rivalis.” “Rivalis” referred originally to someone sharing the same stream (from “rivus,” meaning “stream”) and later generalized to anyone in competition, especially property-wise. Late Middle English, from Latin “rivalis” (one who uses the same stream), with the prefix “co-” indicating joint rivalry.
“Corrival” is a somewhat archaic term. It can still be used effectively in literature and formal speech to denote a person who is an active rival in pursuit of an objective, bringing an undertone of historical rivalry to the context. The term “corrival” offers historical richness, hinting at conflicts over shared resources such as streams—an issue that was particularly relevant in agrarian societies. Though not frequently used in modern dialogue, “corrival” can invoke a nostalgic or literary flavor when employed in writing.
First Known Use—earliest evidence for corrival is from 1578, in the writing of John Lyly, writer and playwright.
Corrival used in a sentence:
During their pursuit for dominance in the world of medieval trade, the Venetian and Genoese merchants were natural corrivals, each striving to gain the upper hand in the lucrative spice market of the East.
Despite their ostensibly friendly collaborations, TechCorp and BioMerge were seen as corrivals in the race to develop the next revolutionary AI solution. Each company’s innovation prompted the other to strive harder, fueling a competitive yet productive atmosphere.
Though not containing the term explicitly, it provides valuable insights about rivalry and competition that can be understood through the lens of a corrival.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas features characters who could be described as corrivals in contexts of vengeance and justice.
Certainly, in our day it is the most general, and at the same time the most expensive, and although several rivals contend with Sir Walter Ralegh for the praise of having introduced tobacco into England, yet the “bright honor” of having taught his countrymen to imitate the Indians, in this particular, he “wears without corrival.”
In this permutation, the amount of meat is about that of a cull of one lobster claw as opposed to a full pound-and-a-quarter’s worth of meat, but it sells for two-thirds the price of its closest corrival at Pearl, so the portion seems to make fair fiscal sense.
Who are the corrivals in your life and where do you meet up with them? Please submit your experiences or any word you may like to share along with your insights and comments to dzapatka@wbhsi.net.