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