datum

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈda.tũː]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈdaː.tum]^[1]

Forms

datum n (genitive datī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter of datus, the participle of dō “to give”, used as a noun.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces the root of ⟨dō⟩ to Proto-Indo-European *deh₃- (“to give”), whose root aorist gave Latin ⟨dare⟩.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its earliest source is Plautus.^[5] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant that which is given, a present, mostly in the plural, as in Propertius and Ovid, and in accounts a debit.^[2][6]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a gift.^[7] Medieval Latin used it for a legacy, an enfeoffment and investiture, and for a charter.^[8] This gave German Datum “date”.^[5] English datum, in the plural data (1640s, “a fact given or granted”), first meant a fact given as the basis of a mathematical problem.^[3] It survives in Italian dato and dado, Spanish dato and dado and French dé.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[5]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of gifts.^[6][5]
• 1640s – English data is recorded.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. That which is given, a present, gift.^[2][6]
2. (accounts) A debit.^[2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A legacy; an investiture.^[8]

Related words

• dō
• datus
• dōnum
• English datum
• English data

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill