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Nomas

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word Nomas

Confidence
Established
Formation
Borrowing
First attested
86–34 BC Sallust More words from the 1st century BC
Borrowed from
Ancient Greek νομάς
Ultimate origin
Ancient Greek νέμω
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Ancient Greek νομάς (nomás)
Latin Nomas
From the same root
Ancient Greek νομαδικός (nomadikós) ← νομάς

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈnɔ.mas][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈnɔː.mas][1]

Forms

Nomas m (genitive Nomadis); third declension[1] The OLD heads it under the plural Nomades and gives the genitive singular as Nomadis or Nomados.[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek νομάς (nomás), plural νομάδες (nomádes),[2][3][1] a word meaning “roaming the pasture” that Beekes derives from νομή (nomḗ, “pasture”) or νομός (nomós, “pasture”), from νέμω (némō, “to allot; to pasture”).[4] Köbler takes this back to Proto-Indo-European *nem- (“to allot, take”).[3] Wiktionary treats it as a doublet of Numida.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Sallust, who tells that the Persians who mixed with the Gaetulians by marriage called themselves Nomades.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

Mostly used in the plural, it named wandering pastoral tribes: in Africa, where it meant the Numidians (Virgil's “tyrants of the Nomads”); in Scythia, in Sallust, Mela and Pliny the Elder; and in Arabia and India, in Pliny.[2][5] The singular could stand for the whole people, as in Silius Italicus,[2][6] and Propertius has a feminine Nomas, a Numidian fortune-teller.[5][7] Martial uses the feminine singular for Numidia, the land of the nomads.[2][7]

Through French nomade it became English nomad in the 1550s.[8]

Timeline

  • 86–34 BC – Sallust uses Nomades of a people in North Africa.[2][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of the tyrants of the Nomads.[2][5][3]
  • 57/46–12 BC – Propertius calls a Numidian fortune-teller Nomas.[5][3]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder writes of nomads in Scythia, Arabia and India.[2][3]
  • 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses Nomas for Numidia.[2][3]
  • 1550s – English borrows the plural through French as nomades.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (usually plural) A member of a wandering pastoral tribe; a nomad.[2][5]
  2. (especially) A Numidian.[2][5][7]
  3. (feminine) A Numidian woman.[5][9]
  4. (feminine singular) The land of the nomads, Numidia.[2][7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ Beekes, Robert S. P. (2010), Etymological Dictionary of Greek, with the assistance of Lucien van Beek, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 10, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier

Related etymologies

Cite this entry

“Nomas.” Etymologically, 7 Nov. 2026, etymologically.com/la/Nomas. Accessed 8 Nov. 2026.

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