Etymologically
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brumalis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [bruːˈmaː.lɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [bruˈmaː.lis][1]

Forms

brūmālis (neuter brūmāle); third-declension two-termination adjective[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin brūma (“winter solstice”) + -ālis.[2][3][1] Vitruvius already explained the name brūma, and that of the winter days, by the shortness of the day.[3] De Vaan takes the noun to be the old superlative of brevis (“short”), from a form Proto-Indo-European *mreǵh-is-mHo- that developed through ⟨*brousma⟩ to ⟨brūma⟩; the adjective goes back to *mrǵh-ú- (“short”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero uses it in his translation of Aratus for the circle of the winter solstice, the Tropic of Capricorn,[2][5] and elsewhere of the shortest day, diēs brūmālis.[6]

Semantic evolution

The first sense was astronomical, “of the winter solstice”: Varro speaks of the polus brūmālis, Lucretius of the brūmālis flexus, the winter turning point, and Cicero calls Capricorn the signum brūmāle.[6][2] From the solstice the word passed to the winter in general, “wintry”, as in Hirtius' brūmālēs diēs and difficult winter marches,[2] and to things found in winter, as when the elder Seneca speaks of houses that are warm in winter.[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it means “wintry, of winter”,[7] and Köbler finds it in Aldhelm's poems around 705.[5] English borrowed it as brumal in the 1510s.[8]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for the circle of the winter solstice.[2][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius speaks of the winter turning point.[6][5]
  • c. 50 BC – Hirtius uses it of winter days and marches.[2][5]
  • c. 705 – It appears in Aldhelm's poems.[5]
  • 1510s – English borrows it as brumal, “belonging to winter”.[8]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of the winter solstice;[2][6] circulus brūmālis, the Tropic of Capricorn.[2][6]
  2. Of winter, wintry.[2][7]
  3. Happening or found during the winter.[2]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b 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 f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com