Etymologically
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armamentum

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Forms

armāmentum n (genitive armāmentī); second declension[1] It is used chiefly in the plural, armāmenta; the singular is found in Columella and Quintilian, and the genitive plural armāmentum in Pacuvius.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin armō (“to arm, equip”) + -mentum.[2][3] armō is formed from arma (“tools; weapons”), which de Vaan derives from Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)r-mo- (“fitting”); the meaning developed from “what is fitted together” or “tools” to “weapons”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Plautus,[5] of a ship's tackle that has to be folded and stowed.[2]

Semantic evolution

In the classical language it is mainly a nautical word for a ship's sailing gear and rigging: Caesar has soldiers who do not yet know the names of the tackle, Livy crews spending hours stowing and fitting it, and Ovid a pine ship equipped with its own gear.[2] Lucilius and Caesar distinguish it from the sails, and Pliny the Elder and Tacitus use it of a type of rig.[2] It also means equipment or gear of any kind, in Grattius, Pliny the Elder and the jurist Paulus.[2]

The TLL notes that in the latest Latin it means the same as arma.[3] Medieval writers used it for military and naval equipment, for utensils and tools, and in the singular for a fleet, a garrison or the act of arming;[6][7] British sources also apply it to the gear of a plough.[8] Italian armamento comes from it.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a ship's tackle.[2][5]
  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius distinguishes the rigging from the sails.[2][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of rigging.[2][5]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of equipment in general.[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (nautical, usually plural) The sailing gear of a ship, tackle, rigging; in the singular, a piece of tackle.[2][10]
  2. (plural) Rigging as distinct from the sails; a type of rig.[2]
  3. (plural) Equipment of any kind, implements, gear.[2][7]
  4. (Medieval Latin) Military equipment, arms; in the singular, a fleet or a garrison.[6][3]

Word family

  • armamentarius

References

  1. ^ 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  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. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  10. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press