Etymologically
Log in

molinum

History Permalink

Etymology and origin of the Latin word molinum

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 485–c. 580 AD, Cassiodorus
Ultimate origin
Latin mola
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin mola
Latin molinus
Latin molinum
French moulin
From the same root
Latin immolo ← mola
Latin molaris ← mola
Latin molina ← molinus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [mɔˈliː.nũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [moˈliː.num][1]

Forms

molīnum n (genitive molīnī); second declension[1] Medieval charters also have mulinum, mollinum and a masculine molinus.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin molīnus (“of a mill”), its neuter used as a noun, or else a shortening of the phrase ⟨saxum molīnum⟩ “millstone”.[1] The adjective is formed from mola (“millstone, mill”),[3][4] or from molō (“to grind”) according to Wiktionary.[1] The feminine molīna was used in the same sense.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is a word of Late Latin:[1] Lewis and Short cite it for a mill from Cassiodorus' Institutions,[3] and Conte and Köbler from Gregory of Tours.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

In the Frankish formulae and the Salic law it is the ordinary word for a mill,[6] and in medieval charters it names the water mill, the hand mill, the windmill, the tanning mill and the fulling mill, and by extension the revenue a mill brought in.[2] Medieval scribes often wrote it mulinum or mollinum.[2][4]

It is the source of Italian mulino and molino, Sicilian mulinu and Old French molin, whence French moulin;[1] the TLL adds Spanish molino and Portuguese moinho.[4]

Timeline

  • c. 485–c. 580 AD – Cassiodorus uses it for a mill.[3][6]
  • 538/539–594 AD – Gregory of Tours uses it.[5][6]
  • 3rd quarter of the 8th century – It appears in the Frankish formulae and the Salic law.[6]
  • 801–813 – A Frankish capitulary lists mills among the appurtenances of an estate.[2]
  • 802 – A Freising charter has the spelling mulinum.[2]
  • 1198 – The Norman exchequer rolls mention a tanning mill and a fulling mill.[2]
  • 1201 – The same rolls record a windmill, molinum ad ventum.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. (Late Latin) A mill.[1][3][5]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A mill of a particular kind: a water mill, hand mill, windmill, tanning mill or fulling mill.[2]
  3. (Medieval Latin) The revenue of a mill.[2]

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 Novum Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis ab anno DCCC usque ad annum MCC (1957–), Copenhagen / Geneva / Paris: Union Académique Internationale; IRHT
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de

Descendants

Cite this entry

“Molinum.” Etymologically, 24 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/molinum. Accessed 24 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·