Etymologically
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bimus

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈbiː.mʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈbiː.mus][1]

Forms

bīmus (feminine bīma, neuter bīmum); first/second-declension adjective[1] The spelling beimus is found in an inscription.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin bi- (“two”) + hiems (“winter”), literally “having two winters”.[2][3][1] De Vaan derives it from Proto-Italic *dwi-χimo-,[4] with the zero grade of Proto-Indo-European *ǵhim-ós (“winter”) that is kept only in such compounds,[4] and Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *dwiǵʰimos.[1] The same formation is found in trīmus and quadrīmus.[4]

Compare Proto-West Germanic *twigim (“two years old”)[1] and English twinter.[2]

Ancient grammarians explained ⟨bimus⟩, ⟨trimus⟩ and ⟨quadrimus⟩ as if named from ⟨bis⟩, ⟨ter⟩ and ⟨quater hieme⟩, “two, three, four winters”;[5][3] Cassiodorus reports this from Eutyches.[5][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cato has it first,[4][6] of vines and plants two years old.[2][7]

Semantic evolution

It was used of animals, as in Varro's bubulum pecus that begins to bear at two, of children, of plants and of things such as wine and bricks: Horace has bimī … merī, two-year-old wine.[2][3] The neuter served as a noun, “the age of two years”, in Cato and Varro.[2]

It also meant “lasting two years”: Ovid's snow lies for two years, and in a letter to Cicero Plancus calls a legion of two years' service bima.[2][3] Cicero's bima sententia is a vote to extend a provincial command for two years.[2][3][7] The jurists use bima die for a payment due at the end of two years.[2][3]

In medieval British sources it means “two winters old”, and Ælfric's glossary equates it with Old English twiwinter.[8]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of vines.[2][7][6]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of cattle.[2][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of a bima sententia.[2][6]
  • 65–8 BC – Horace has two-year-old wine.[2][6]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of snow lasting two years.[2][6]
  • c. 20 BC–30 AD – Velleius uses it of a child aged two.[2][6]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Two years old.[2][3]
  2. Lasting two years; of a period of two years;[2][3][7] bima diē, at the end of two years.[2][3][7]

Word family

  • bīmātus
  • bīmulus

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  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