gluma

Forms

glūma f (genitive glūmae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin glūbō (“to peel, strip”), with a suffix -sma as in trama.^[2][3] De Vaan points out that if the connection is right, the word first meant the skin or hull of the grain; it goes back to Proto-Italic *glouf(s)ma- and Proto-Indo-European *gle/oubʰ-(s)mh₂-, which can have the e- or the o-grade and may, but need not, contain *-s-.^[3] Sihler derives it instead from Proto-Italic *glūmma, from earlier *glewbmā.^[1]

The verb is cognate with Ancient Greek γλύφω (glúphō, “to carve out”), Old High German klioban, Old English clēofan and Old Norse kljúfa (“to cleave”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Varro says that the word was found only in Ennius,^[4] so Ennius is its first author,^[3][5] using it for the husk of grain.^[4]

Semantic evolution

Varro, discussing the parts of an ear of grain, notes that the beard and the grain are known to almost everyone, but the gluma to few.^[4] The word stayed rare and technical, meaning the husk that encloses a grain of corn.^[2][4] Festus, in Paul's epitome, has the spelling cluma,^[2] and the TLL also records gloma.^[6]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it, as Varro reports.^[4][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro remarks that only Ennius has it.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The husk or hull enclosing a grain of corn; the glume.^[2][4][1]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften