fomentum

Forms

fōmentum n (genitive fōmentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin foveō (“to warm, cherish”) + -mentum, contracted from an older ⟨*fovimentum⟩.^[2][3][1] De Vaan, following Schrijver, derives it from ⟨*fowe-mentum⟩ and traces foveō to Proto-Italic *foχweje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰogʷʰ-eie- (“to burn”), comparing Sanskrit दहति (dáhati, “burns”) and Lithuanian dègti (“to burn”).^[4] Festus derived it from warming, and a scholiast on Horace says that fomenta are so called because they warm the sickness.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Cicero has it first, figuratively: pain is usually soothed by the remedies of patience and fortitude.^[2][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a soothing application, hot or cold, a compress or poultice, usually in the plural: Horace has someone who prepares poultices and asks the doctor to revive a sick man, and Celsus prescribes warm applications.^[2][3] Figuratively it is a remedy, solace or alleviation, as in Cicero.^[2] It is also wood for kindling, like fōmes.^[2][1] In Medieval Latin it is fuel and a stimulus or incentive.^[7] Church Latin glosses it poultice.^[8]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero of the remedies of patience.^[2][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of poultices for the sick.^[2][6]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus of warm applications.^[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A warm or soothing application, compress, poultice, fomentation; usually plural.^[2][3][8][1]
2. A remedy, solace, alleviation.^[2][1]
3. Wood for kindling, tinder;^[2][1][7] (Medieval Latin) fuel.^[2][1][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) A stimulus, incentive.^[7]

Word family

• fōmentō
• fōmentātiō

Related words

• fōmes
• foveō

References

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