diurnum

Forms

diurnum n (genitive diurnī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin diurnus (“of the day, daily”), its neuter used as a noun.^[2][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Seneca the Elder's Controversiae, both for a daily ration and for a daybook in which the day's takings are checked.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

The ration of a slave is the sense in the younger Seneca and Martial, and in the Digest a son's daily allowance.^[2][4] Juvenal uses it for an account book, and in the plural diurna named the official daily record of events at Rome, which Tacitus says was read throughout the provinces.^[2][4][3]

In Late Latin the plural meant daily needs in Arnobius, and diurnīs “by day” is set against noctibus in Caelius Aurelianus;^[4][3] Wiktionary dates the sense “day” to the 4th century.^[1] In Ecclesiastical Latin it is a Book of Hours.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal uses it of an account book.^[2][6]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus mentions the diurna populi Romani read in the provinces.^[2][6]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses the plural for daily needs.^[4][3][6]
• 5th century AD – Caelius Aurelianus uses diurnīs for “by day”.^[4][3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A daily ration or allowance.^[2][4]
2. A daybook, account book; a day-to-day record of events.^[2][3]
3. (plural) The official daily gazette of Rome, the diurna populi Rōmānī.^[2][4]
4. (Late Latin, plural) Daily needs.^[4][3]
5. (Late Latin) Day, daytime.^[1][4]
6. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A Book of Hours.^[5]

Word family

• diurnarius

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de