Etymologically
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menda

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɛn.da][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɛn.da][1]

Forms

menda f (genitive mendae); first declension[1]

Etymology

It is probably from Latin mendum (“fault, blemish”), made from its old plural, although it is attested somewhat earlier.[2] De Vaan traces both to Proto-Italic *m(e)ndo-.[2] Wiktionary and Köbler derive it from Proto-Indo-European *mend- (“physical defect, fault”).[1][3]

Cognate with Sanskrit मिन्दा (mindā, “bodily defect”)[4][5] and Old Irish mennar (“blemish”).[2][4] De Vaan also compares mind (“sign, mark”) and Welsh mann (“place”), and tentatively a root *mn- (“to think”), but calls these theoretical possibilities.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found first in Lucilius, meaning a fault or error: he speaks of things in which faults arise in every matter.[4][3]

Semantic evolution

It meant a fault or error, especially in writing:[4][6] Asconius thinks a word in Cicero is more likely a copyist's mistake than a poor choice, and Suetonius warns that a usage should be taken for a habit, not a slip.[4][7] Ovid uses it of a blemish on the body: in the Amores no blemish was to be found anywhere on a body, and in the Ars amatoria night hides blemishes.[4][6] Lewis and Short call it poetic and post-Augustan.[6]

Döderlein distinguishes menda, a natural fault, especially of the body, from mendum, a fault committed, especially in writing.[8] Ancient grammarians accepted both forms,[5] and Georges treats menda as the rarer by-form of mendum.[9] Italian has menda and ammenda from it.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of faults or errors.[4][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of bodily blemishes.[4][3]
  • c. 75–c. 150 AD – Suetonius uses it of a mistake in writing.[4][3]
  • c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius discusses a supposed error in a text.[9][3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A bodily defect, blemish.[4][6]
  2. A fault, error, especially a mistake in writing.[4][6][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  9. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn