Etymologically
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deminuo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [deːˈmɪ.nu.oː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [deˈmiː.nu.o][1]

Forms

dēminuō (present infinitive dēminuere, perfect active dēminuī, supine dēminūtum); third conjugation[1] Manuscripts and editions use dēminuō and dīminuō indiscriminately.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin dē- + minuō (“to lessen”).[3][2][1] De Vaan traces minuō to Proto-Italic *minu-je/o- (“to lessen”), from a nasal present Proto-Indo-European *mi-n(e)-h₁- (“to make less”), the source also of minor (“smaller”).[4] Cognate with Oscan menvum (“to lessen”) and Ancient Greek μινύθω (minúthō, “to lessen, decay”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL dates it from Plautus,[2] whose Aulularia has a character promise a sister to lighten her labour and whose Truculentus has someone deduct five coins from a mina.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means to lessen the size or amount of something, to make fewer, and to break up into small pieces.[3][5] It also means to lessen the force or scope of an action, to curtail or impair, to understate in speech, and in grammar to make a diminutive, as Quintilian has it.[3] Lewis & Short contrast it with dīminuō, to break into small pieces, but the manuscripts confuse them.[5][2]

In money and law it means to deduct, as from an estate: Cicero says that nothing can be taken from a ward's property without the authority of all the guardians.[3] With an ablative it means to deprive of, and capite dēminuere is to deprive of civil rights.[3] Church Latin glosses it to lessen, diminish.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of lessening labour and deducting money.[3][2][7]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro of things worn down and of reducing an enemy's numbers.[3][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of deductions from a ward's property.[3][7]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of diminutive forms.[3][7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To make smaller, diminish, reduce; to make fewer; to cut up small.[3][5][6][1]
  2. To lessen the force or scope of, curtail, impair; to understate.[3][1]
  3. (grammar) To make a diminutive of a word.[3]
  4. To take away part of an amount, deduct.[3][5][1]
  5. To deprive of;[3][1] capite dēminuere, to deprive of civil rights.[3][1]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de