Etymologically
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frumentum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [fruːˈmɛn.tũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [fruˈmɛn.tum][1]

Forms

frūmentum n (genitive frūmentī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is formed from the stem of frūx “fruit, crops” and fruor “to enjoy” with the suffix -mentum, from ⟨*frūg-men-⟩ (Lewis and Short: ⟨*frūgimentum⟩).[2][3][4][5][1] De Vaan derives the stem from Proto-Italic *frūg-, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg- (“to use”);[3] Umbrian has fri (“fruits”), and Germanic the verb Proto-Germanic *brūkaną (“to use”), in Gothic 𐌱𐍂𐌿𐌺𐌾𐌰𐌽 (brukjan) and Old English brūcan.[3] Since the root is found only in Italic and Germanic, he notes, a PIE origin may be doubted.[3] Varro already derived ⟨frūmentum⟩ from ⟨fruor⟩.[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[3] who has frūmentī quom alibī messis maxumast, “when elsewhere the grain harvest is at its greatest”.[2]

Semantic evolution

Frūmentum is the grain of cereal plants, especially in the singular for harvested grain, and in the plural the standing crops.[2][4] It also means cereals as a class of produce and, specifically, wheat.[2] Its derivative frūmentārius means “of grain” and, as a noun, “a grain dealer”.[3]

Church Latin glosses it “grain, corn, rye, wheat, barley, meal”, and in Medieval Latin it is wheat in particular (French froment).[6][7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: frūmentī … messis.[2][8]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato: frūmentō nē noceat curculiō, “so that the weevil does not harm the grain”.[2][8]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro distinguishes land suited to vines from land suited to grain.[2][8]
  • 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of wheat as against barley.[2][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. grain, corn (harvested).[2][4][1][6]
  2. (plural) Standing corn, crops.[2]
  3. Cereals (as a kind of produce).[2]
  4. wheat.[2][7]

Word family

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de