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flammeum

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word flammeum

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
230/220–168 BC, Caecilius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*bʰlg-mh₂-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin flamma
French flamme
Latin flammula
English flamboyant
Latin flammeus
Latin flammeum

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈfɫam.me.ũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈflam.me.um][1]

Forms

flammeum n (genitive flammeī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin flammeus (“flame-coloured”), the adjective used as a noun,[2][1] from flamma (“flame”).[3][4] De Vaan traces that noun to Proto-Italic *flagma and Proto-Indo-European *bʰlg-mh₂- (“flame”), a zero grade that he finds striking beside Ancient Greek φλογμός (phlogmós, “flame”).[4] The root is the same as in flagrō (“to burn”).[4]

An ancient commentary on Lucan explains the name either from the light breath that moves the delicate veils or from their flame colour.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it first in Caecilius,[4] who speaks of a bridal veil spread out at home, flammeum expassum domi.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It was the flame-coloured veil a Roman bride wore at her wedding.[2][3][6] Festus says the bride wore it for a good omen.[5] Catullus has flammeum capere, to take the veil, of a bride, and Juvenal flammea sumere;[3][6] Juvenal also says of a woman that she wears out wedding veils, marrying again and again.[3][6] Lucan calls the veils yellow.[3]

Pliny the Elder uses the name for a flame-coloured flower, the phlox, and Seneca for the fiery red in a rainbow.[2][3] Christian writers use it of the veil of consecrated virgins: Ambrose, writing on virgins, speaks of a veil in which Christ, the head of all, is consecrated daily.[5]

Timeline

  • 230/220–168 BC – Caecilius uses it of a bridal veil.[2][6][7]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus has flammeum capere.[3][6][7]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for a flower.[2][7]
  • c. 340–397 AD – Ambrose uses it of the veil of virgins.[5][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A flame-coloured bridal veil.[2][3][6]
  2. A flame-coloured flower, phlox.[2][3]
  3. Fiery red (in a rainbow).[3]
  4. (Late Latin, Ecclesiastical Latin) The veil of a consecrated virgin.[5]

Usage notes

Festus reports Aelius and Cincius as saying that marriage, nuptiae, took its name from the bride's head being covered, obnubere, with the flammeum.[5]

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 c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d 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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Flammeum.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/flammeum. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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