Etymologically
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emano

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eːˈmaː.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈmaː.no][1]

Forms

ēmānō (present infinitive ēmānāre, perfect active ēmānāvī, supine ēmānātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- (“out”) + mānō (“to flow”).[2][1] De Vaan considers mānō a verb made from a noun, perhaps comparable with Celtic words for peat and moss, but the connection remains isolated.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is used of flowing water by Lucretius and in Cicero's poetry, which speaks of a spring unde ēmānat aquāī.[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Besides liquids, the verb was used of vapours that escape, such as smoke through a small hole.[2] L&S notes that its figurative senses are especially frequent in Cicero:[4] to spring from a source, to originate, and of news or facts, to leak out and become known.[2][4] It could also be used of an evil that spreads, as in Florus.[2]

Ecclesiastical Latin has “to flow out, spring, emanate, become known”.[6] English formed emanate from its past participle in the 1680s.[7]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of flowing.[4][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of a spring, of arguments that arise from a source, and of letters whose contents might leak out.[2][5]
  • 1st century AD – Columella uses it of smoke escaping.[2][5]
  • c. 120 AD – Florus uses it of an evil spreading.[2][5]
  • 1680s – English forms emanate, “to flow out”.[7]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To flow out, pour forth;[2][4] (of vapours) to escape.[2][4]
  2. To arise, originate, emanate (from).[2][4]
  3. (of facts or news) To leak out, become known.[2][1]
  4. (of a condition) To spread.[2]

Word family

  • ēmānātiō
  • English emanate

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com