menstruum

Forms

mēnstruum n (genitive mēnstruī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mēnstruus (“monthly”), used as a noun,^[2][1] and so goes back to mēnsis (“month”).^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lucretius has the plural for the monthly discharge of women: tempore eo quo menstrua solvit (“at the time when she has her period”).^[2]

Semantic evolution

Besides the plural for menstruation, used by Celsus and Pliny the Elder,^[3] the singular named things measured by the month: a month's provisions in Livy,^[3][4] a month's term of office in a letter of Pliny the Younger,^[3] and a monthly allowance from husband to wife in Ulpian.^[2]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses the plural for menstrual discharge.^[2][4]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses the singular for a month's provisions.^[3][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses the plural for the menses.^[3][4]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a monthly allowance paid to a wife.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monthly payment or allowance.^[2][1]
2. A month's term of office or service.^[2][3]
3. A month's provisions.^[3]
4. (usually plural) The menstrual discharge, the menses.^[2][3][1]

Word family

• mēnstruālis
• sēmimenstruum
• mēnstruō

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 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de