forma
Pronunciation
Forms
fōrma f (genitive fōrmae); first declension[1]
Etymology
The origin is uncertain.[2][3][1] De Vaan notes that formīca “ant” and formīdō “bogey” point to a change of *m–m to *f–m, so it may go back to *morma.[2][1] The OLD compares Ancient Greek μορφή (morphḗ, “shape, form”); de Vaan suggests both words may have been borrowed from a third language, or the Greek word may have reached Latin through Etruscan.[4][2][1] Donatus derived it from an old word fornus (“heat”).[3]
Earliest recorded meaning
It is found from Naevius onwards.[2][5] In Plautus someone says of a stranger, “I know him by his figure, not by his colour”.[4]
Semantic evolution
It meant visible form, appearance and shape, and a person's looks.[4] Often it meant beauty, as in the Scipio epitaph that praises a man “whose beauty matched his virtue”, and in Plautus' praise of a girl.[4] It also meant an arrangement or plan, the terms of a document, a mode or state, a category and a kind, as Virgil's “all the forms of crime”.[4]
In grammar it was the form of a word, as in Varro, and in law ex forma meant “in due form”.[4] It was a figure or image, a surveyor's map, and a mould for casting.[4] Medieval Latin used it for an aqueduct, an arch, a choir-stall, a seal, and a cheese (forma casei),[6] and music theory for musical structure.[7] The printer Aldus used parva forma for a small book format.[8] It survives as Italian forma, Spanish horma and French forme, and English form came from Old French about 1200.[1][9]
Timeline
- c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.[2][5]
- c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a person's figure and for beauty.[4][5]
- 116–27 BC – Varro uses it for the forms of a word.[4][5]
- 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for kinds of crime.[4][5]
- c. 1200 – English form is first recorded.[9]
Meanings
Noun
- Form, shape, appearance.[4][10]
- A person's figure, looks.[4]
- Beauty.[4][1]
- An arrangement, plan, design.[4][1]
- The terms (of a document, law).[4]
- A mode, state; a category; a kind, sort.[4][1]
- (grammar) A form of a word.[4]
- ex forma In due form.[4]
- A figure, image.[4]
- A map, plan.[4]
- A mould, model.[4][1]
- (Medieval Latin) An aqueduct; an arch; a seal; a cheese.[6]
Word family
- ambiformiter
- bifōrmis
- cōnfōrmis
- dēfōrmis
- fōrmāceus
- fōrmālis
- fōrmella
- fōrmō
- fōrmōsus
- fōrmula
- īnfōrmis
- quadrifōrmis
Related words
Usage notes
Döderlein distinguishes figura, shape in a purely geometrical sense, from forma, shape seen aesthetically, as beautiful or not.[11]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
- ^ Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
- ^ Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de
- ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper