Etymologically
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frumentatio

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Forms

frūmentātiō f (genitive frūmentātiōnis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin frūmentor (“to forage for grain”) + -tiō,[2][1][3] from frūmentum (“grain”).[4] De Vaan derives frūmentum from ⟨*frūg-men-⟩, on the stem of fruor (“to enjoy”), and notes a similar formation on that stem, Oscan fruktatiuf (“usufruct”).[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in Caesar,[4][3] as a military term: in the Gallic War soldiers who have finished foraging hear shouting.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

In Caesar, and in Hirtius' eighth book of the Gallic War, it is the collecting of grain and supplies by troops, often paired with pābulātiō, the gathering of fodder,[3][6] and Livy and Suetonius use it in the same way.[2][3]

Under the emperors it also named a distribution of grain to the people: Augustus records in his Res gestae twelve such distributions made from grain he had bought himself,[2][3] and Suetonius tells how he tried to keep the people from leaving their work for them.[2] The jurist Macer counts attending the distributions to the soldiers among a tribune's duties,[2] and Tertullian uses the word too.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of foraging by troops.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it of foraging.[2][4]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it in both senses.[2][4]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian uses it of a distribution of grain.[7][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (military) The collecting of grain or supplies, foraging.[2][6][8]
  2. A distribution of grain, especially at reduced prices or free.[2][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c 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 e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  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 c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier