Why is “with me” “comigo” in Portuguese?

“With me” in Portuguese isn’t com mim. It’s one word: comigo. Several pronouns join with com like this: comigo (with me), contigo (with you), consigo (with himself/herself), conosco in Brazil or connosco in Portugal (with us), and convosco (with you all). With ele and ela, com stays separate: com ele, com ela.

The odd shape comes from Latin, which said mecum for “with me,” with the “with” (-cum) tacked on at the end. Over time that became migo. Speakers no longer heard a “with” inside it, so they added com at the front. Comigo really says “with” twice. This clip repeats fala comigo (“talk to me”) about a dozen times, so it’s hard to forget.