Etymologically
Log in

molinum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 24 October 2026 at 14:15. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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