denomino

Forms

dēnōminō (present infinitive dēnōmināre, perfect active dēnōmināvī, supine dēnōminātum); first conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin dē- + nōminō (“to name”).^[2][3] The verb nōminō comes from nōmen (“name”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in the Rhetorica ad Herennium, where, in a description of metonymy, a thing contained is said to be named after what contains it.^[3][4]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant to give something a name, usually one taken from a source that is stated or implied:^[2] Horace tells that the Lamiae were named after Lamus.^[5][3] Lewis & Short note that it is not found before Augustus and is most frequent in Quintilian,^[5] who speaks of things that have no name in Greek or Latin and contrasts a thing with its own name with a general term.^[5][3] Festus and Quintilian also use it of deriving one word from another.^[3]

In Late Latin, Justinian's Novels use it for appointing someone to an office, and the Code of Justinian for recommending a person.^[6] Medieval writers used it for naming, mentioning by name and specifying, and in logic and rhetoric for deriving a term and for speaking by metonymy.^[7] English took denominate from its participle in the 1550s.^[8]

Timeline

• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of naming one thing after another.^[3][9]
• 65–8 BC – Horace writes that the Lamiae took their name from Lamus.^[5][3][9]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses it often of things that have or lack a name.^[5][3][9]
• after 534 AD – Justinian's Novels use it for appointing to an office.^[6][9]
• 1550s – English borrows denominate.^[8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To give a name to, call (often after a source), denominate.^[2][5][4]
2. To derive (one word from another).^[3]
3. (Late Latin) To appoint to an office.^[6]
4. (Late Latin) To recommend.^[6]
5. (Medieval Latin) To mention by name; to specify.^[7]

Word family

• dēnōminātiō
• dēnōminātīvus

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de