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enumero

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word enumero

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*nem-e/os-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin numero
Latin enumero
Latin adnumero

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [eːˈnʊ.mɛ.roː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [eˈnuː.me.ro][1]

Forms

ēnumerō (present infinitive ēnumerāre, perfect active ēnumerāvī, supine ēnumerātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin ex- + numerō (“to count”).[2][1] The verb numerō is made from numerus (“number”),[3] which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *nomeso- and Proto-Indo-European *nem-e/os- (“apportioning”), probably a thematised form of the neuter noun seen in nemus (“grove”).[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek νέμω (némō, “to dispense, distribute”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] where a slave says he is honest and his savings cannot be counted up.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means to count or reckon up, as in Terence and Caesar, and to count out or pay money, as in Plautus.[2][4] Cicero uses it of listing things one by one, as all of Verres' deeds, and in rhetoric of summing up or recapitulating.[2] Church Latin glosses it “count, number, enumerate”.[5] English enumerate is from the 1640s, from or modelled on its past participle.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of counting up savings and paying out money.[2][3][7]
  • 190–159 BC – Terence of reckoning up what one expects back.[4][7]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of listing deeds and of recapitulation.[2][7]
  • 1640s – English enumerate.[6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To count up, reckon up; to count out, pay out money.[2][4][1]
  2. To list one by one, enumerate.[2][5][1]
  3. (rhetoric) To sum up, recapitulate.[2]

Word family

  • ēnumerātiō

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 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Enumero.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/enumero. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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