Etymologically
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dinumero

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [diːˈnʊ.mɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [diˈnuː.me.ro][1]

Forms

dīnumerō (present infinitive dīnumerāre, perfect active dīnumerāvī, supine dīnumerātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin dis- + numerō (“to count”).[2][3] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of numerus (“number”), which goes back to Proto-Italic *nomeso- and probably to an s-stem Proto-Indo-European *nem-e/os- (“apportioning”); he compares Ancient Greek νέμω (némō, “to dispense, distribute”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan first finds it in Plautus,[4] where in the Epidicus it is used of counting out the money owed for her.[5]

Semantic evolution

Plautus and Terence use it of counting out or paying money.[5][6] Its wider sense is to count or reckon up: Cicero speaks of counting syllables and the stars, Virgil of counting the times, and Pliny the Elder of the place where Xerxes counted his army.[5][7] In a letter Cicero writes of someone that he centuriat Capuae, dīnumerat; the OLD takes this as paying the soldiers, while the TLL understands counting the troops at the levy and notes the other view.[5][8] Jurists such as Gaius use it of reckoning a number as the basis of a calculation, and Apuleius of enumerating, as when Plato names three kinds of love.[5][9] The Vulgate has it in a psalm of counting all one's bones, and an Old Latin version of Acts of being numbered with the apostles.[2][8] Medieval writers used it for enumerating and naming.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of counting out money.[5][11]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of counting syllables and stars.[5][11]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of counting times.[5][11]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius uses it of reckoning a basis of calculation.[5][11]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To count, reckon up the number of.[5][7]
  2. To count out (money), pay out.[5][6]
  3. (law) To take (a number) as the basis of a calculation, reckon.[5]
  4. To recount, enumerate.[5][10]

Word family

  • dīnumerātiō

References

  1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  3. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  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 e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  10. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  11. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de