Etymologically
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mino

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɪ.noː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmiː.no][1]

Forms

minō (present infinitive mināre, perfect active mināvī, supine minātum); first conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin minor1 (“to threaten, jut out”), an active collateral form of that deponent.[1][2][3] Lewis and Short derive the sense “drive” from the threatening cries of cattle drivers, an old rustic use that later entered the literary language.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A conjecture puts it in the elder Seneca, of people driving their herds,[4][5] but the OLD treats its classical examples as conjectural or as belonging to minor.[3] It is certain in Apuleius, of driving asses and a horse with sticks.[2][6][7][1]

Semantic evolution

Paulus' abridgement of Festus explains agāsōnēs, grooms, as those who drive horses (minantes).[2][6] The Vulgate uses it of driving a flock into the desert (Exodus 3:1), of leading people (minavit eos a tribunali, Acts 18:16), of driving a cart, and in the passive of ships driven by strong winds (James 3:4).[2][6] It appears in the Burgundian laws and in Gregory the Great.[4] Its descendants include Italian menare and French mener,[2][6][4] Sardinian minare and Catalan menar.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of driving an ass and a horse.[2][6][8]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of driving flocks and leading people.[2][6][8]
  • 540–604 AD – Gregory the Great uses it of driving a beast of burden.[4][8]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To drive, goad (animals).[2][6][7][5][1][3]
  2. (Late Latin) To drive, lead (people); to drive out.[2][6][1][9]
  3. (Late Latin) To drive (a cart); (passive) to be driven (of ships).[6][2]

Usage notes

The grammarian Priscian also records an archaic active minō “threaten” for minor, without an example.[6][7] A separate Late and Medieval Latin mīnō “to mine, undermine” comes from mīna “ore, mine”.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  7. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  8. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  9. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson