Etymologically
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alimonia

Etymology and origin of the Latin word alimonia

History Permalink
Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Varro
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*h₂el-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin alimonia
English alimony

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [a.lɪˈmoː.ni.a][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [a.liˈmɔː.ni.a][1]

Forms

alimōnia f (genitive alimōniae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin alō (“to nourish”) + -mōnia.[2][1] Alō is *ale/o- (“to feed”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂el-e/o-.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Varro onwards.[3] In Varro's Menippean satires someone has “food set before him”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant food or nourishment, and feeding or upbringing, as in Apuleius.[2] Lewis & Short call it an ante- and post-classical word for alimentum.[4] Prudentius uses it of fuel for a flame.[4]

Isidore says it is so called because the body is nourished by it.[5] In medieval Latin it also meant grain, a widow's portion and charity.[6] English alimony was borrowed in the 1650s, first “nourishment”, then the allowance paid to a wife.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of food.[2][6]
  • c. 165 AD – Gellius speaks of natural nourishment.[2][6]
  • 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of fuel for a flame.[4][6]
  • 1650s – English alimony is borrowed.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Food, nourishment.[2][1]
  2. Feeding, nurture, upbringing.[2][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) Grain; a widow's portion; charity.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com

Borrowed into

Cite this entry

“Alimonia.” Etymologically, 15 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/alimonia. Accessed 15 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·