accumulatio

Forms

accumulātiō f (genitive accumulātiōnis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin accumulō (“to heap up”) + -tiō.^[2][3] It is the source of English accumulation.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Pliny the Elder has it first,^[5][6] as a gardening term for heaping earth around the roots of trees.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin used it more widely for heaping up, as of riches,^[3] and Donatus' commentary on Terence uses it of speech, for an accumulation of error and drunkenness.^[3] In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a heaping up or accumulation,^[7] and in British Medieval Latin Wyclif uses it of the amassing of virtues.^[8] Leonardo Bruni has it in the sense of an additional spur.^[9]

Timeline

• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of heaping earth around trees.^[6][3][5]
• late 15th century – English borrows accumulation for an accumulated mass.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A heaping or piling up of earth around plants.^[2][6]
2. (Late Latin) A heaping up, accumulation.^[3][7]
3. (New Latin) An additional spur or incentive.^[9]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de