lemma

Forms

lēmma n (genitive lēmmatis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek λῆμμα (lêmma, “premise, assumption”),^[2][3][1] from λαμβάνω (lambánō, “to take”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Martial, who uses it for the heading of an epigram and for the epigram itself,^[2] and in Pliny the Younger, for the theme someone took up.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

L&S note that it is not found before Augustus and that Cicero writes it only in Greek.^[5] From “theme, subject” it came to mean the title of a poem, which states its subject, and then the poem itself, especially an epigram.^[5][6] It was also used of a story or tale, as in the phrase nutricis lemmata “the nurse's tales”.^[6][1] In logic and grammar it meant a premise or assumption: Donatus speaks of a second premise and of contrary ones.^[6] English took the word from Greek in the 1560s, in mathematics.^[7]

Timeline

• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses it for the heading of an epigram and for an epigram.^[2][4]
• c. 310–380 AD – Donatus uses it for a premise in his commentary on Terence.^[6][4]
• c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius uses it for a heading.^[6][4]
• 1560s – Borrowed into English, from Greek, as lemma in mathematics.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A theme or subject; the contents of a work.^[2][5]
2. The heading or title of a poem.^[2][5]
3. A short poem, an epigram.^[2][5]
4. A story, a tale.^[6][1]
5. (logic) A premise, an assumption.^[6][1]

Usage notes

Wiktionary also records a first-declension lemma as a medieval spelling of lemnia, probably a scribal error of ⟨m⟩ for ⟨ni⟩.^[1]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Saalfeld, Günther Alexander (1874), Index Graecorum vocabulorum in linguam latinam translatorum, Berlin: Weidmann
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com