minuta

Forms

minūta f (genitive minūtae); first declension.^[1][2] Classical and Late Latin use the neuter plural minūta (of minūtum).^[3][4]

Etymology

It is from Latin minūtus (“small, minute”), the feminine and the neuter plural of the adjective used as nouns.^[1][3][5] The adjective is the past participle of minuō (“to lessen”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Calpurnius uses the neuter plural minūta for small things, as opposed to long ones.^[3]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin minūta were small divisions of time, ten to the hour, in the land surveyors, Firmicus Maternus and Augustine,^[3] and Ammianus Marcellinus uses them for the sixtieth part of a degree, which geometers call “parts of parts”, Greek λεπτά (leptá).^[3][4] The Vulgate calls the widow's two coins minūta (Mark 12:42).^[4][6] Medieval Latin used the feminine minūta for the smallest coin, the obol,^[6][2][1] in Italy for the minor grains, such as millet and beans, as against wheat,^[6] in silva minūta for coppice wood,^[6] and for the first draft of a document, French minute.^[6] Etymonline traces English minute to Medieval Latin minūta, a minute of time or a short note, from the phrase pars minūta prīma, the first small part, a sixtieth.^[5]

Timeline

• second third of the 1st century AD – Calpurnius uses minūta for small things.^[3][1]
• 343/350 AD – Firmicus Maternus uses it for small divisions of time.^[3][1]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it for the sixtieth part of a degree.^[3][4][1]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses minūta for the widow's coins.^[4][1]
• 706 – A charter has silva minūta for coppice.^[6]
• 1282 – A chronicle of Reggio uses it for the minor grains.^[6]
• late 14th century – English borrows minute.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (neuter plural) Small things.^[3]
2. (Late Latin) A small division of time, a minute; the sixtieth part of a degree.^[3][4]
3. (Late Latin) A mite, a coin of the lowest value.^[4][6]
4. (Medieval Latin) An obol, the smallest coin.^[2][1][6]
5. (Medieval Latin, Italy) The minor grains (millet, beans and the like), as against wheat.^[6]
6. (Medieval Latin) A first draft of a document, a minute; a short note.^[6][5]

Related words

• minūtus
• minuō
• English minute

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
2. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
3. ^ 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
4. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
5. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre