fomes

Forms

fōmes m (genitive fōmitis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin foveō (“to keep warm”).^[2][3][4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that verb, which goes back to Proto-Italic *foχweje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *dʰogʷʰ-éye- (“to burn”).^[4] Following Schrijver, he takes the long ⟨ō⟩ of such derivatives to come from an unsyncopated ⟨*fowe-⟩, and notes that apart from fōculum they appear rather late.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Virgil on,^[4] who tells how Achates struck a spark from flint and caught the flame in tinder (rapuitque in fomite flammam).^[3][5]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it meant chips of wood, tinder and other fuel for kindling or feeding a fire,^[2][3] as in Lucan and Pliny the Elder.^[3][5] Later writers used it figuratively for whatever feeds or stirs something: Gellius calls wine a fomes of the mind and of courage,^[3] Prudentius speaks of the fomes peccati, the tinder of sin,^[3][6] and the Vulgate of the tinder of envy.^[3] Prudentius also uses it for warmth.^[6] Medieval Latin kept these uses: fuel for a fire or a lamp, heat, food and incentive,^[7] and in Britain it glossed Old English words for tinder.^[8] In New Latin medicine it named a fomite, an object that carries infection.^[1]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the tinder in which Achates catches a spark.^[3][9]
• 39–65 AD – Lucan writes of reviving feeble flames by adding fuel.^[5][9]
• c. 165 AD – Gellius uses it figuratively for something that kindles the mind.^[3][9]
• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius speaks of the fomes peccati.^[3][6][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Chips of wood, tinder, kindling: fuel for lighting or feeding a fire.^[2][3]
2. (figurative, post-Classical) Something that feeds or excites; an incentive, a cause: fōmes peccātī, the tinder of sin.^[3][6]
3. (Late Latin) Warmth, heat.^[6][7]
4. (Medieval Latin) Food, nourishment.^[7]
5. (New Latin, medicine) A fomite.^[1]

Word family

• fōmitō

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c 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 k l Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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 Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
8. ^ 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
9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de