Etymologically
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nemus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈnɛ.mʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnɛː.mus][1]

Forms

nemus n (genitive nemoris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *nemos-, from Proto-Indo-European *nem-os- (“what is allotted, sacrifice”), from the root *nem- “to allot”.[2][1] De Vaan explains the sense “wood, sacred clearing”, shared by Greek, Celtic and Italic, as “sacrifice” > “place of sacrifice”.[2] Cognate with Ancient Greek νέμος (némos, “wooded pasture”), Old Irish nemed (“sanctuary”) and Sanskrit नमस् (námas, “worship”).[2][3][1] Isidore derived it from nūmen “divinity”, because pagans placed their idols there.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Ennius.[2][5] Accius speaks of the passes through the woods in a mountain gorge.[3] Köbler dates Ennius 204–169 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It was a wood or forest, often with pastures and glades, and a wood consecrated to a god, a sacred grove, especially the grove of Diana at Aricia, called simply Nemus.[3][6][7] In poetry it could be bushy foliage.[3]

In medieval Britain it was woodland used for pasture or as a source of revenue.[8]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it.[2][5]
  • 170–c. 90 BC – Accius speaks of passes through the woods.[3][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero names the grove of Diana at Aricia simply Nemus.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A wood, forest.[3]
  2. A sacred grove.[3]
  3. (poetic) Foliage.[3]

Word family

  • nemorālis
  • nemoricultrix
  • nemorivagus
  • nemorōsus
  • nemorēnsis

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes silva, wood as timber, saltus, wild mountain forest, nemus, a pleasant grove, and lūcus, a grove sacred to the gods.[9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ 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
  9. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper