figmentum

Forms

figmentum n (genitive figmentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin fingō (“to form, fashion”) + -mentum.^[2][1][3] De Vaan traces the verb to a nasal present Proto-Indo-European *dʰi-n-ǵʰ-.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Aulus Gellius uses it for the forming of new words and for a figure or image.^[2][5][6]

Semantic evolution

Lewis and Short call it post-classical.^[5] From “a thing formed, an image” it came to mean a fiction or invention;^[5][2] Lactantius speaks of the fictions of poets and Apuleius of those of dreams.^[5][2] Ammianus uses it for an image of a goddess said to have fallen from the sky.^[5] In the Vulgate it is anything made, a creature.^[5][7]

Medieval Latin kept the senses image, creature and poetic fiction, and added lie, forgery and deceit.^[8] English took figment from it in the early 15th century, for a myth, a deceit or false doctrine.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius uses it for word formation and for an image.^[2][5][6]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius speaks of the fictions of dreams.^[5][6]
• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius speaks of the fictions of poets.^[5][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it for the image of a goddess.^[5][6]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for a thing made, a creature.^[5][6]
• early 15th century – Borrowed into English as figment.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A thing formed or devised; a formation, an image.^[2][5]
2. A fiction, invention, unreality.^[2][5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A thing made, a creature.^[5][7][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A lie, forgery; deceit.^[8]

Related words

• English figment

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ 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 n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com