armatus

Forms

armātus (feminine armāta, neuter armātum, superlative armātissimus); first/second-declension participle^[1]

Etymology

It is the past participle of armō (“to arm”), used as an adjective.^[1][2] The verb is from arma (“arms, weapons”),^[3] which de Vaan derives from Proto-Italic *armo-, Proto-Indo-European *h₂(e)r-mo- (“fitting”), from the root “to join”: the sense passed from “things fitted together, tools” to “weapons”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius,^[3] who has segetis armātae, “a crop of armed men”.^[1] Plautus has hōc in equō īnsunt mīlitēs armātī atque animātī probē, “in this horse are soldiers, well armed and in good heart”.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Armātus is “armed, furnished with weapons”, and “clad in armour” (Cato: the north-west wind can knock over an armed man or a loaded wagon).^[1][2][5] It is used of things that involve arms: Cicero has vim armātam, “armed force”, and armāta dissēnsiō cīvium, “armed conflict among citizens”.^[1] As a noun armātus, usually plural, is an armed man, a soldier.^[1]

Church Latin glosses it “armed”.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius: segetis armātae.^[1][3]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: mīlitēs armātī.^[1][3]
• 234–149 BC – Cato: armātum hominem.^[1][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: vim armātam.^[1][3]

Meanings

Adjective

1. armed, furnished with weapons.^[1][2][6]
2. Clad in armour.^[1]
3. Involving arms, armed (of force, conflict).^[1]

Noun

1. An armed man, a soldier.^[1]

Related words

• armō
• arma
• inermis

Usage notes

A separate fourth-declension noun armātus, armātūs, formed from armō with the suffix ⟨-tus⟩, means a kind of equipment or armour; it is found almost only in the ablative, in Livy and Fronto (haud disparī armātū, “with similar equipment”), and gravis armātus is the heavy-armed troops.^[1][2][5][3]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson