Etymologically
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cummis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈkʊm.mɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈkum.mis][1]

Forms

cummis f (genitive cummis or cummeos); third declension[1] The OLD enters it as the indeclinable neuter cummi; both forms are also spelled commi(s) and gummi(s).[2][3][4] The best manuscripts write ⟨c⟩, later ones often ⟨g⟩.[5] The feminine has the accusative cummim, the ablative cummī (rarely cumme) and the genitive plural cummium;[2][3] Martianus Capella has a Greek genitive gummeos.[3][5] Late forms are gumen or gummen (Palladius, Isidore), cumma or gumma and gummus.[5][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek κόμμι (kómmi, “gum”),[2][6][1] from Egyptian qmy or qmyt.[1] The OLD, Köbler and Etymonline give the Egyptian word as ⟨kemai⟩.[2][7][8] Isidore of Seville already notes that it is a Greek name.[9][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first author is Cato, in his instructions for treating storage jars, where gum is poured in.[5][4][7]

Semantic evolution

It is the sticky gum that oozes from trees.[2][3] Columella coats new jars with liquid gum,[5][10] Ovid and Scribonius Largus use it in recipes,[5][2] and Pliny the Elder lists eight kinds, the best coming from an Egyptian thorn tree.[5]

Medieval writers used it of pine resin and pitch, of gum arabic (gummi Arabicum) and of other aromatic gums.[11][12] From the late feminine cumma come Italian gomma, French gomme and Spanish goma,[5] and through Old French ⟨gome⟩ English gum;[8] German Gummi also comes from the Latin.[8]

Timeline

  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in treating storage jars.[5][4][7]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the spelling gummi.[2][5][7]
  • c. 47 AD – Scribonius Largus often uses commi in his remedies.[5][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder describes its kinds.[5][7]
  • c. 1300 – English has gum, through Old French.[8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Gum, the viscid secretion of trees.[2][10][3]
  2. (Medieval Latin) Pine resin, pitch.[11]
  3. (Medieval Latin) gummi Arabicum: gum arabic.[11][12]

Word family

  • cumminōsus
  • cummītiō

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
  7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c d Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  10. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  11. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  12. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften