Etymologically
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levamen

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɫɛˈwaː.mɛn][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [leˈvaː.men][1]

Forms

levāmen n (genitive levāminis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin levō1 (“to lighten, relieve”) + -men.[2][1][3] levō1 is made from levis1 (“light”), which de Vaan traces to Proto-Italic *leχu- and Proto-Indo-European *h₁legʷʰ-u- (“light”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it first in Catullus, who calls something a sweet relief to the weary traveller in his sweat.[3][5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is whatever relieves or mitigates, a solace or comfort, and Lewis & Short call it mostly poetic.[2][5] In verse the nominative stands only at the end of a hexameter.[3] Cicero writes to Atticus that if there were any relief, it would lie in him alone.[5] In Virgil's Aeneid Anchises is lost, the solace of every care and misfortune.[5] Livy also has it in prose, and the ablative appears only from Dictys and Symmachus.[3] Church Latin has “alleviation, rest, consolation”.[7] It continues in Old Italian levame.[3]

Timeline

  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus, of relief for a weary traveller.[3][5][6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero, in a letter to Atticus.[5][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of Anchises as solace.[5][6]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has it in prose.[3][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. An alleviation, mitigation, relief.[2][5][1][7]
  2. A solace, consolation, comfort.[2][5][1]

Usage notes

A separate lēvāmen, from lēvō2 (“to make smooth”), appears in a glossary as a tool for smoothing.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f 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 e f g h Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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 f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson