emunio

Forms

ēmūniō (present infinitive ēmūnīre, perfect active ēmūnīvī or ēmūniī, supine ēmūnītum); fourth conjugation^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + mūniō (“to fortify”).^[2][1][3] De Vaan treats mūniō under moenia (“walls”), from Proto-Italic *moini- (“protective wall”), and tentatively reconstructs *(H)moi-ni- (“construction”).^[4] He compares Latvian mìet (“to drive piles”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis and Short find it no earlier than the Augustan age.^[5] In Virgil's Aeneid doorposts are made secure with a barrier: fultōsque ēmūniit obice postēs.^[6][3]

Semantic evolution

Livy uses it of a wall built higher than elsewhere at a vulnerable point, and of a place enclosed with squared stone and fortified like a citadel.^[7] Columella uses it of protecting vines from cattle with cages and of securing the floors and walls of granaries.^[5] Seneca the Elder has a mind armed against fear.^[6] Statius uses it of piling couches high with coverings,^[2][6] and Tacitus of building roads through woods and marshes, silvīs ac palūdibus ēmūniendīs.^[2]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of making doorposts secure.^[6][8]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of walls and fortified places.^[7][8]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of protecting vines and granaries.^[5][8]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius uses it of piling couches high.^[2][8]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of building roads through woods and marshes.^[2][8]

Meanings

Verb

1. To fortify, make secure, protect, especially with walls or embankments.^[2][5]
2. (figurative) To arm (the mind) against something.^[6]
3. To pile high (couches, cushions).^[2]
4. To build roads or causeways through (woods, marshes).^[2]

Related words

• mūniō
• moenia

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 c d e Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de