filamentum

Forms

fīlāmentum n (genitive fīlāmentī); second declension^[1][2]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin fīlum (“thread”) + -mentum.^[1][3][2] Etymonline instead derives it from Late Latin fīlō (“to spin”).^[4] De Vaan traces fīlum to Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰiH-(s-)lo- (“sinew, sinew thread”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Paulus Diaconus' epitome of Festus says that the priests' fillets (infulae) were called filamenta, and that infulae are woollen bands with which priests, victims and temples were veiled.^[3][2][6]

Semantic evolution

In antiquity it was a narrow piece of cloth, a fillet.^[1][7] Medieval sources have it for thread or tissue, possibly in a medical gloss that lays hare's hair on a wound,^[8] and for spun flax and ribbons.^[9] A Cracow record of 1547 lists filamenta among scraps of cloth and plain girdles.^[10] British anatomical Latin used it for a filament or minute fibre.^[11] English took filament from Modern Latin in the 1590s.^[4]

Timeline

• 8th century AD – Paulus Diaconus' epitome of Festus records it for the fillets of priests.^[3][6]
• 1547 – A Cracow record lists it among strips of cloth.^[10]
• 1590s – Borrowed into English as filament, “fine untwisted thread”.^[4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A narrow piece of cloth, a fillet.^[1][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) Thread, tissue; spun flax.^[8][9]
3. (Medieval Latin) A strip of cloth, a band.^[10][9]
4. (New Latin, anatomy) A filament, minute fibre.^[11]

Related words

• infula
• English filament

References

1. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Mittellateinisches Wörterbuch bis zum ausgehenden 13. Jahrhundert (1967–), Munich: C. H. Beck; Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
9. ^ a b c Latinitatis medii aevi lexicon Bohemorum / Slovník středověké latiny v českých zemích (1977–), Prague: Academia; electronic version, Institute of Philosophy of the Czech Academy of Sciences
10. ^ a b c Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
11. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press