movimentum

Forms

movimentum n (genitive movimentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin moveō (“to move”) + -mentum, made in Medieval Latin;^[1][2] Wiktionary calls it a doublet of mōmentum.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Du Cange quotes it from Balther's life of St Fridolin in the sense of a feeling or emotion.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its general sense is movement.^[1][2] Du Cange records it for a commotion or uprising, in Albertino Mussato's history of the emperor Henry VII, where a new movimentum broke out in Piacenza, and for a motive, what moves someone to act.^[3] Köbler gives movement, feeling and uproar, with the variant ⟨movēmentum⟩, and cites the Catholicon Anglicum.^[2]

Through Old French ⟨movement⟩ it gave the English word.^[4]

Timeline

• late 14th century – English movement is first recorded, from Old French.^[4]
• 1483 – The Catholicon Anglicum lists it.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Medieval Latin) movement, motion.^[1][2]
2. (Medieval Latin) A feeling, emotion.^[3][2]
3. (Medieval Latin) A commotion, uprising.^[3][2]
4. (Medieval Latin) A motive.^[3]

Related words

• mōtus
• English movement

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
3. ^ a b c d e du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
4. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com