momen

Forms

mōmen n (genitive mōminis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin moveō (“to move”) + -men,^[2][1] contracted, as the TLL and Lewis & Short put it, from an older *movimen.^[3][4] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of that verb, whose related mōmentum he derives from Proto-Italic *mowe-mnto-; the verb itself goes back to Proto-Indo-European *m(i̯)euh₁- (“to move”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is first found in Lucretius,^[5][6] of the heaving of the salt sea, from which, he says, many things seem able to rise.^[2][4]

Semantic evolution

Lucretius uses it for a movement, for a trend (of the times), and for an impulse that sets something moving: the rest of the soul is moved by the will and impulse of the mind, and light things can be stirred by a small push.^[2][7] In several of these places the manuscripts read nōmen or nūmen, and the TLL counts other passages, in Lucretius, the Aetna, Statius and Arnobius, as conjectures only.^[2][3][4]

Manilius uses it of the course of time,^[7] and Arnobius for weight or importance, in the phrase nullīus mōminis esse, “to be of no importance”.^[4][8] The epitome of Festus glosses it as mōmentum.^[3] Osbern of Gloucester recorded it as a word for mōmentum and quoted a line he took from Ennius, which the TLL treats as a false reading.^[9][3]

Timeline

• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of the heaving sea and of an impulse.^[2][6]
• 1st century AD – Manilius uses it of the course of time.^[7][6]
• 297–310 AD – Arnobius uses it for importance.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. A movement, motion;^[2][4] (figurative) a trend.^[2]
2. An impulse, push that sets something moving.^[2][7]
3. The course of time;^[7] a moment of time.^[4]
4. Weight, importance.^[4][8]

Related words

• mōmentum
• moveō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c d e Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
8. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
9. ^ 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