Etymologically
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lumino

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈɫuː.mɪ.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈluː.mi.no][1]

Forms

lūminō (present infinitive lūmināre, perfect active lūmināvī, supine lūminātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin lūmen (“light”) + -ō.[2][1] According to the TLL it was formed from ⟨lūmen⟩ after the much older and commoner illūminō, which appears already in the Rhetorica ad Herennium and Cicero.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is a verse inscription of AD 134 on the statue of Memnon, which says that kindly day, brought forth from the Ocean, “lights up” (lūminat) the hour.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It remained much rarer than illūminō and is mostly found in late authors:[3] Apuleius has tu lūminās sōlem, “you light up the sun”,[4][2] Caelius Aurelianus a place lit by windows, and Martianus Capella an earth bright with flowers.[4][5] Apuleius' male lūminātus means “short-sighted”, from the sense “to give eyesight”.[5][6]

In Medieval Latin it also meant “to provide lighting”.[7] Through Old French luminer it gave Middle English luminen, the source of English limn.[8]

Timeline

  • AD 134 – A verse inscription on the statue of Memnon uses it of daylight.[3][2]
  • c. 125–175 – Apuleius writes tu lūminās sōlem, “you light up the sun”.[2][4][9]
  • after 220 – The Itala, the Old Latin Bible, has the world “lit with clear light” in the Book of Wisdom.[3][9]
  • 5th century – Caelius Aurelianus speaks of a place lit by windows.[4][9]
  • late 14th century – Middle English luminen “to illuminate manuscripts” is borrowed through Old French.[8]
  • 1620s – English luminate is formed from its participle.[8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To illuminate, light up, brighten.[2][4][5]
  2. (participle) male lūminātus: having poor sight, short-sighted.[5][6]
  3. (Medieval Latin) To provide lighting.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  8. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  9. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de