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frumentor

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word frumentor

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 50 BC, Caesar
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg-ie/o-
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin frumentum
Latin frumentor
From the same root
Latin frumentarius ← frumentum
Latin frumentatio ← frumentor

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [fruːˈmɛn.tɔr][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [fruˈmɛn.tor][1]

Forms

frūmentor (present infinitive frūmentārī, perfect active frūmentātus sum); first conjugation, deponent[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin frūmentum (“grain”) + -ō.[2][1][3] De Vaan lists frūmentum among the derivatives of fruor (“to enjoy the produce of”),[4] which he traces to Proto-Italic *frūg-je/o- and Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg-ie/o- (“to use”).[4] Cognate with Umbrian frif (“fruits”) and Old English brūcan (“to use”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL's first examples are Pompey, in a letter to Cicero, and Caesar,[3] who writes of going out to plunder and forage, praedandi frumentandique causa.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a military term, to gather grain or provisions, to forage:[2][6] Caesar writes that it was necessary at the same time to fetch timber, to forage and to build such great works, and he often sends men out to forage, frūmentātum mittere.[6] Livy and Sallust use it in the same way.[6] Tertullian uses it transitively, to provide with grain.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 50 BC – Caesar, of foraging.[3][6][5]
  • 86–34 BC – Sallust, of men sent to forage.[6][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of foraging in nearby fields.[6][5]
  • c. 160–220 AD – Tertullian, of providing grain.[6][5]

Meanings

Verb

  1. (military) To fetch grain or provisions, to forage.[2][6][1]
  2. (Late Latin) To provide with grain.[6]

Word family

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 Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

Derived terms

Cite this entry

“Frumentor.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/frumentor. Accessed 23 Oct. 2026.

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