accumulo

Forms

accumulō (present infinitive accumulāre, perfect active accumulāvī, supine accumulātum); first conjugation^[1] It is also spelt adcumulō.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin ad- + cumulō (“to heap up”),^[2][4][5] and cumulō is formed from cumulus (“heap, pile”).^[1][5] De Vaan notes that the verb is attested much earlier than the noun, and reconstructs Proto-Italic *kumo- and Proto-Indo-European *ḱuh₁-mo- (“heap”), comparing Ancient Greek κῦμα (kûma, “wave, swell”);^[6] Schrijver doubts the link with the root “to swell” because of the short /u/.^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan has it from Lucretius on,^[6] who uses it of death piling up crowded bodies in heaps, and of piling slaughter on slaughter.^[3][7]

Semantic evolution

The TLL counts two uses in Cicero and calls it a word suited above all to poets, which passed into the prose of the Silver Age.^[5] Cicero uses it of amassing money,^[3] and an epitaph of a Scipio boasts of having added to the virtues of the family by the speaker's own conduct.^[2][3] Virgil uses it of heaping gifts on the soul of a grandson,^[2][7] and Pliny the Elder uses it as a gardening term for heaping soil round the roots of plants.^[2][3] Gellius uses it of piling up words.^[3]

Medieval writers use it of collecting and counting together (Bede of adding up a number), of increasing, and of paying; in medicine the MLW records an astringent remedy.^[8] English accumulate (1520s) comes from its past participle.^[9]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of heaping up the dead and of piling slaughter on slaughter.^[3][10]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of amassing money.^[3][10]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of loading someone with gifts.^[2][10]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of heaping soil round roots.^[2][10]
• early 8th century – Bede uses it of adding up a number.^[8][10]
• 1520s – English borrows accumulate from its past participle.^[9]

Meanings

Verb

1. To heap up, pile up, accumulate.^[2][3]
2. To add (facts, words) by way of exaggeration.^[2][3]
3. To add to, increase, enhance.^[2][7]
4. To load (someone with gifts); to heap (gifts) on.^[2][3]
5. To heap soil over or round the roots of (plants).^[2][3]
6. (Medieval Latin) To add up, count together; to pay.^[8]

Word family

• accumulātiō
• accumulātor
• accumulātē

Related words

• circumcumulō
• cumulō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
7. ^ a b c Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de