Etymologically
Log in

mensuro

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word mensuro

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 400 AD, Vegetius
Ultimate origin
Latin mēnsūra
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mensura
French mesure
Latin mensuro

Forms

mēnsūrō (present infinitive mēnsūrāre, perfect active mēnsūrāvī, supine mēnsūrātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin mēnsūra (“measure”),[2][3][4][5][1] which is formed from mētior (“to measure”) with the suffix -tūra.[1] The chain goes back to Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Lewis & Short call it post-classical.[2] An early instance is in Vegetius' handbook on warfare, where a ditch is measured (“fossa mensuratur”), meaning to measure something's size.[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

Late Latin used it of measuring land boundaries and lengths, as in the Vulgate's Ezekiel, and also figuratively, of weighing up one's resources, in Corippus.[2][4] In Medieval Latin it was a common word for measuring objects and quantities, and especially for surveying and marking out land; it could also be intransitive, “to measure, have such dimensions”.[7][8] Writers on music used it of the length of notes.[9]

It lived on in the Romance languages, as Italian misurare, French mesurer and Catalan mesurar,[1] and through Old French it gave English measure.[10]

Timeline

  • c. 400 AD – Vegetius uses it of measuring a ditch.[2][4][11]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of measuring a length.[2][11]
  • 6th century AD – Corippus uses it figuratively, “to estimate”.[2][4][11]
  • 950 – A cartulary has the spelling mesuro.[7]
  • 13th century – A treatise on music uses it of note values.[9]
  • early 14th century – English borrows its Old French descendant as mesuren, “measure”.[10]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To measure.[2][3][4][6]
  2. (figurative) To estimate, weigh up.[2][4][1]
  3. (Medieval Latin) To mark out or survey land.[7][8]
  4. (Medieval Latin, intransitive) To measure, have certain dimensions.[7]
  5. (Medieval Latin, music) To measure note values.[9]

Word family

  • mēnsūrātiō
  • mēnsūrātor
  • mēnsūrābilis
  • mēnsūrālis

Usage notes

Medieval documents also spell it mesuro and mencsuro.[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f g Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  8. ^ a b Lexicon mediae et infimae Latinitatis Polonorum (1953–), Kraków: Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN; electronic ed. elexicon.scriptores.pl
  9. ^ a b c Lexicon musicum Latinum medii aevi (1992–), Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften; online ed. Wörterbuchnetz
  10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  11. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Mensuro.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/mensuro. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·