Etymologically
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homo

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈhɔ.moː], [ˈhɔ.mɔ][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈɔː.mo][1]

Forms

homō̆ m (genitive hominis); third declension[1] Old Latin had an accusative hemōnem, reported by Paul the Deacon's epitome of Festus, and Ennius has homōnem.[2][3][4]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *χemō, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰ(e)mōn (“earthling, human”), a derivative of the word for “earth”.[2] The oblique stem continues Proto-Indo-European *dʰǵʰm̥-on-.[2] De Vaan explains the vowel ⟨o⟩ as a change of older /e/ before the following /m/, unless hemōnem was formed back from nēmō “nobody”.[2] Cognate with Oscan humuns (“men”) and Umbrian homonus (“to men”), and further with Old Irish duine (“person”), Welsh dyn (“man”), Lithuanian žmogùs (“man”), Gothic 𐌲𐌿𐌼𐌰 (guma, “man”) and Old English guma (“man”).[2][3] Lewis & Short and the Thesaurus link it with humus “earth”.[4][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It appears in the Twelve Tables and in Livius Andronicus.[2] Köbler dates the Twelve Tables c. 450 BC and Livius Andronicus 280/260–before 200 BC.[6]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was a human being of either sex, set against the gods and against animals, as in Ennius' dīvum pater atque hominum rēx “father of gods and men”.[3][7] It could stress human weakness or, in Plautus and Cicero, proper human feeling, and it was a person, the man in question (often scornfully), a familiar form of address (mī homō) and, in the plural, the men of an army or crew.[3] Unlike vir, it did not mean a man as opposed to a woman.[8][7]

In medieval Latin a man's homō was his dependant, serf, armed retainer or vassal, and hominēs were a lord's vassals and ministeriales.[9] Wiktionary records the sense “husband” in medieval texts.[1] It survives as Italian uomo, French homme, Portuguese homem and Romanian om.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it.[2][6]
  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.[2][6]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius calls Jupiter father of gods and men (hominum).[3][6]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore derives it from humus, man being made from earth.[10][6]
  • 1889 – English hominid is recorded, from New Latin Hominidae, from homō.[11]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A human being of either sex; in the plural, mankind, the living.[3][4]
  2. A human being as subject to human limits, or as having proper human feeling.[3]
  3. A person, individual; the man in question, often scornful.[3]
  4. A familiar form of address: mī homō, my good man.[3][1]
  5. With an adjective or genitive, a person of a certain kind, race or class.[3]
  6. In the plural, the men of an army, crew or other body.[3]
  7. (Medieval Latin) A dependant, serf, retainer or vassal.[9]
  8. (Medieval Latin) A husband.[1]

Word family

  • homicīda
  • homullus
  • homunculus
  • sēmihomō
  • homunciō
  • hūmānitās
  • hūmānus

Usage notes

Isidore wrote that man is called homō because he was made from earth (humus), as Genesis says.[10] Döderlein contrasts it with vir and mās, which mean only the male.[8]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  8. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  10. ^ a b Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  11. ^ Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com