decuma

Forms

decuma f (genitive decumae); first declension^[1] It is the older spelling of decima.^[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is the feminine of decumus (“tenth”), the older form of decimus, short for ⟨decuma pars⟩ “a tenth part”.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces the ordinal to Proto-Italic *dekamo- (“tenth”), from decem (“ten”), from Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥ (“ten”); cognate with Oscan δεκμας (dekmas, “a tithe”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[5] who uses it of a tithe offered to a god.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Decuma is “a tenth part, tithe”, and in religion a tithe offered to a god, as to Hercules (Varro, Cicero).^[2][3][1] Usually in the plural, decumae were the tax of a tenth on the produce of land, or the right to collect it, as in Sicily in Cicero's speeches against Verres.^[2][3] Decima, with hōra understood, is also the tenth hour of the day.^[2][1] As Decuma or Decima it is a Roman goddess of the last month of pregnancy, one of the three Fates (Varro).^[2][4]

In medieval Latin the decima is the tenth of revenue, chiefly of produce, given to the Church, a tithe made compulsory in the Carolingian period, and the right to levy it.^[6][7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a tithe offered to a god.^[2][4]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of the tithe tax.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero on the tithes of Sicily.^[2][4]
• Carolingian period – The Church tithe becomes compulsory.^[6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A tenth part, a tithe.^[2][3][1][7]
2. A tithe offered to a god.^[2]
3. (usually plural) A tax of a tenth on produce; the right to collect it.^[2][3]
4. The tenth hour of the day.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) The church tithe; the right to levy tithes.^[6][7]

Proper noun

1. Decuma, a goddess of childbirth, one of the Fates.^[2][4]

Related words

• decimus
• decem
• decumānus

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 o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson