Etymologically
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libramentum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [liː.braːˈmɛn.tũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [li.braˈmɛn.tum][1]

Forms

lībrāmentum n (genitive lībrāmentī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lībrō (“to balance, poise”) + -mentum.[2][1][3] The verb is made from lībra (“pound; pair of scales”).[1] De Vaan reconstructs that noun as Proto-Italic *leiþra- and finds no root for it; the Sicilian coin name Ancient Greek λίτρα (lítra) was probably borrowed from Italic.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The TLL finds it from Cicero on, who apologizes for using it:[3] he writes that mathematicians grant a point without magnitude and, as it were, a plane with no thickness at all, quasi lībrāmentum.[2]

Semantic evolution

Its first concrete sense was a weight that worked a mechanism, a counterpoise: Livy describes an iron grapple pulled down by a heavy lead weight that lifted a ship's prow, Tacitus the ropes and weights of siege engines, and Pliny the Younger a hidden weight that makes a spring rise and fall.[2][5]

Vitruvius uses it for a level or elevation, ad lībrāmentum “on a level with”, for a level surface, and for the gradient of a water channel, which Pliny the Elder says must be steep.[2][3] Seneca uses it of balance and equipoise, Columella of the evenness of winds, and Ammianus of a boundary line.[2][5] British medieval writers use it for the counterweight of a balance and for a state of balance.[6] Modern Latin has used it for a weight in strength training.[1]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it for a geometrical plane.[2][7]
  • c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it for a level and for the gradient of a channel.[2][7]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it for the weight of a grappling device.[2][7]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca uses it for balance.[2][7]
  • c. 390 AD – Ammianus uses it for a boundary line.[5][7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A weight that works a mechanism, a counterpoise, counterweight.[2][5]
  2. A level, elevation;[2] ad lībrāmentum, on a level (with).[2]
  3. A level surface, horizontal plane.[2][5]
  4. (geometry) A plane.[2]
  5. The gradient of a watercourse.[2]
  6. Equipoise, balance; evenness.[2][5]
  7. (Late Latin) A boundary line.[5]
  8. (New Latin) A weight used in strength training.[1]

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 i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de