libum

Forms

lībum n (genitive lībī); second declension^[1] Nigidius has a masculine lībus (accusative plural lībos).^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *leifo- (“sacrificial cake”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂le/oibʰ-o-, from a root meaning grease for anointing; it may equally go back to *loifo-.^[4][1] De Vaan, after Steinbauer, takes lībō (“to pour a libation”) to be a verb made from this noun, “to make a sacrificial cake”, and connects dēlibūtus (“smeared”).^[4] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἀλείφω (aleíphō, “to anoint”) and ἄλειφαρ (áleiphar, “unguent”).^[4][1]

The ancients had other ideas: Varro derived it from lībō, Ovid from Liber, the god of wine, and Isidore from libet (“it pleases”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Ennius.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

It is a kind of cake, usually used in sacrifices;^[2][3] Cato gives a recipe for one, and Lewis & Short describe it as a cake of meal made with milk or oil and spread with honey.^[2][3] Virgil has cakes of spelt placed under the food on the grass, Ovid rustic cakes, and Juvenal a house full of cakes for sale.^[3] Wiktionary notes that such cakes were offered especially on birthdays.^[1] Church Latin glosses it offering, cake offering.^[7]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.^[4][6]
• 234–149 BC – Cato gives a recipe for it.^[3][6]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of cakes of spelt.^[3][6]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of rustic cakes, and his derivation from Liber.^[3][5][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A cake of meal with milk or oil and honey, used especially in sacrificial offerings.^[2][3][7][1]

Word family

• lībācunculus
• lībārius
• lībus

Related words

• lībō
• dēlibūtus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson