cauma

Forms

cauma n (genitive caumatis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek καῦμα (kaûma, “heat, burning”),^[1][2][3] a noun from καίω (kaíō, “to burn”).^[1] Köbler traces the Greek word, with a question mark, to Proto-Indo-European *k̑ēu- (“to kindle, burn”).^[4]

Etymonline gives it as the probable source of Italian calma and so of English calm, from the heat of the midday sun, when everything rests.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first author is the Vulgate, in the Book of Job (30:30), where it means burning heat.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Christian writers use it for heat, the heat of the day;^[1][6] the TLL also records it in Fulgentius' sermons and in glossaries, which explain it by aestus “heat” and once by Old English swol.^[7] Medieval writers keep the sense of heat.^[3][4]

Timeline

• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate, Job 30:30.^[2][4]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm uses it.^[4]
• late 14th century – English calm, probably through Italian from this word.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. heat, burning heat.^[2][6][3]
2. (by extension) The heat of the day.^[1]

Related words

• cynocauma
• caumō
• aestus
• English calm

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
7. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften