Etymologically
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moenia

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈmoe̯.ni.a][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɛː.ni.a][1]

Forms

moenia n pl (genitive moenium); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Proto-Italic *moini- (“protective wall”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *(H)moy-ni- (“construction”), from a root *mey- “to fix, build”.[2][1] Cognate with Sanskrit मिनोति (minóti, “fixes, builds”), and related within Latin to mūniō “to fortify” and mūrus “wall”.[2][3][1] De Vaan explains the kept /oe/, where /ū/ would be expected, as a way of keeping it apart from mūnia “duties”, and does not rule out a link with mūnus.[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Naevius, who has a singular moene.[2] Ennius speaks of attacking the walls of the citadel.[3] Köbler dates Naevius c. 235–200 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It was the defensive walls of a town, and then the area enclosed by them, a fortified town or city, as when Plautus asks a small space “in your great and lovely city”.[3] In poetry it was also a natural barrier, such as the fiery walls of the world in Lucretius.[3] Isidore says the walls are so called because they fortify (mūniant) the city.[5]

Medieval writers used it of town and borough walls, and figuratively.[6] Its relatives mūniō and mūnītiō gave English munition in the 1530s and, by a French misdivision, English ammunition in the 1620s.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses the singular moene.[2][4]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius speaks of attacking the citadel walls.[3][4]
  • 1530s – English munition is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The walls of a town, ramparts.[3]
  2. A walled town, a city.[3]
  3. (poetic) A natural barrier.[3]

Word family

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes mūrus, any wall by its form, pariēs, the wall of a building or a partition, and moenia, the walls of a city as a defence.[8] Moenia is also an old spelling of mūnia “duties”.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e 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 g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  6. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  9. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.