linking or connecting verb (especially "be"), word which expresses relation between subject and predicate, 1640s, from Latin copula "that which binds, rope, band, bond" (see copulate). Related: Copular.
Entries linking to copula
copulate v.
early 15c., copulaten, "to join" (transitive), from Latin copulatus, past participle of copulare "join together, couple, bind, link, unite," from copula "band, tie, link," from PIE *ko-ap-, from *ko(m)- "together" (see com-) + *ap- (1) "to take, reach" (see apt). The intransitive sense of "unite sexually" is attested from 1630s. Related: Copulated; copulating.