monumentum

Forms

monumentum n (genitive monumentī); second declension^[1] It is also spelled monimentum; an inscription has monementum, and some have a masculine monumentus.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin moneō (“to remind, warn”) + -mentum.^[2][4][1][5] De Vaan traces moneō to Proto-Italic *moneje- and Proto-Indo-European *mon-eie- (“to make think of, remind”), a causative of Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to think”), cognate with Sanskrit मानयति (mānáyati, “to honour”).^[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Plautus,^[5][6] who says a man should raise children generī monumentum et sibi, “as a memorial for his family and himself”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Monumentum is anything that keeps a memory alive: a statue, trophy or building raised to commemorate a person or event, “a monument”, and especially a tomb (Terence: treasure found in the family tomb).^[2][3][1] It is a public building such as a temple or library, a memorial in general, a token or reminder, and an example.^[2] It is also a written record or document, annālium monumenta, “annals”, the recorded traditions of the past, and a literary work, a history (Cicero, Livy).^[2][3]

Church Latin glosses it “monument, grave, sepulchre, record”;^[7] in medieval Latin it is a graveyard and the municipal records.^[8] English monument comes from it, first as “a sepulchre”, in the late 13th century.^[9]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: generī monumentum et sibi.^[2][6]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of the family tomb.^[2][6]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: ex annālium monumentīs.^[2][6]
• late 13th century – English monument.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A monument, memorial (a statue, building, trophy).^[2][3][1][7]
2. A tomb, sepulchre.^[2][1][7]
3. A commemorative public building.^[2]
4. A reminder, token; an example.^[2]
5. A written record, document, (plural) recorded tradition.^[2][3][7]
6. A literary work; a history.^[2]
7. (Medieval Latin) A graveyard.^[8]

Word family

• monumentālis
• monumentārius

Related words

• moneō
• mōnstrum
• admoneō
• English monument

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 j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
5. ^ a b c 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com