commemini

Forms

commeminī (present infinitive commeminisse); third conjugation, no present stem, perfect forms have present meaning, no supine stem^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin con- + meminī (“to remember”).^[2][1][3] The TLL compares comminīscor (“to devise”).^[4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that verb, which goes back to Proto-Italic *me-mon- and Proto-Indo-European *me-mon-.^[5]

Cognate with the Greek perfect μέμονα (mémona, “to intend”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL records it from Plautus on, scattered through the whole of Latinity;^[4] Plautus and Gellius are fond of it.^[4] In the Poenulus a speaker says istaec volo vos commeminisse omnia, “I want you to remember all this”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to remember clearly or recollect, with an accusative, a genitive, an accusative and infinitive or no object,^[2][6] as in Terence's si satis commemini, “if I remember rightly”.^[2][4] Plautus also uses it for knowing something: ecquid commeministi Punice?, “do you know any Punic?”.^[2][4] With an infinitive it is to remember to do something.^[2] Lewis and Short call it frequent in Plautus and rare elsewhere;^[6] Cicero and Ovid have it a few times.^[2][4]

Gellius uses it for mentioning or citing something, verses he gladly quotes or followers of Socrates whom Plato names.^[2] Wiktionary marks the sense “mention” as Late Latin.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it often, of remembering and of knowing a language.^[2][4][7]
• 190–159 BC – Terence has si satis commemini.^[2][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of remembering a man.^[2][7]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid has si commemini.^[2][7]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it for mentioning or citing.^[2][7]

Meanings

Verb

1. To remember clearly, recollect.^[2][6]
2. (with infinitive) To remember to do something.^[2]
3. To know (a language).^[4]
4. To mention, cite, recall.^[2]

Related words

• moneō
• rememinī
• reminīscor

Usage notes

Like meminī, it has only perfect forms, which have present meaning.^[1][6]

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de