coagulum

Forms

coāgulum n (genitive coāgulī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin cōgō (“to drive together, curdle”) + -ulum, with the suffix of instruments.^[2][1][3] The verb is formed con- and agō (“to drive”),^[1] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ-e/o- (“to drive, lead”).^[4] De Vaan lists the noun among the derivatives of agō and suggests that its long /ā/ may be analogical, as in ambāgēs and indāgō².^[4]

The grammarian Nonius explained it from ⟨coagere⟩, “to gather together”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Varro (116–27 BC),^[4][6] who uses it both of rennet in his work on farming and, in the Menippean satires, of wine as the bond that holds a dinner party together.^[2]

Semantic evolution

The concrete sense was the curdled milk from the stomach of young animals used as rennet, and then the curds themselves.^[2][3] Pliny the Elder records coagulum terrae as the name of a plant.^[2] Gellius uses it for the act of thickening or congealing, and for the forming of an embryo in the womb.^[2]

It is the source of Italian caglio “rennet”, and of coagulo.^[7]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for a bond and for rennet.^[2][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of curds.^[2][6]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder names a plant coagulum terrae.^[2][6]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it for congealing and for the forming of an embryo.^[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A binding agent, bond, tie.^[2]
2. Rennet, curdled milk from the stomach of young mammals.^[2][3]
3. Curds.^[2]
4. coagulum terrae: a plant.^[2]
5. Thickening, congealing; the forming of an embryo.^[2]

Word family

• coāgulō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier