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numeratus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word numeratus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
c. 250–184 BC, Plautus
Ultimate origin
Latin (numerus)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin numero
Latin enumero
Latin adnumero
Latin dinumero
Latin numeratus

Forms

numerātus (feminine numerāta, neuter numerātum); first/second-declension adjective.[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin numerō (“to count, pay out”), used as an adjective: the past participle of that verb.[1][2] The verb is formed from numerus (“number”),[3] which de Vaan takes to be probably a thematized form of an s-stem related to nemus, with the root of Ancient Greek νέμω (némō, “to dispense, distribute”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest quotation is from Plautus, of six hundred good coins counted out (nummi sescenti … probi, numerati).[1][2]

Semantic evolution

It is used of money, first as counted out or paid down, as when Gellius speaks of money said to have been given and counted out.[1] From this it came to mean ready money, cash: Cicero speaks of money left at home in cash (pecunia numerata) and of a dowry paid in cash, and Martial tells someone who likes ready money to sell his tables.[1][2] The jurists use it of a dowry consisting of cash.[1]

The neuter numerātum became a noun, “ready money”;[1][2] Cicero and Livy have the ablative numerātō, “in cash”, and Seneca the Elder and Quintilian use in numerātō habēre figuratively, of having something ready to hand.[1][2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of coins counted out.[1][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero uses pecunia numerata of cash.[1][2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has numerato, “in cash”.[2][4]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian uses in numerato habere figuratively.[2][4]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. (of money) Counted out, paid down.[1][2]
  2. (of money) Ready, in cash.[1][2]

Noun

  1. numerātum: ready money, coin;[1][2] numerātō, in cash;[1][2] (figurative) in numerātō habēre, to have ready to hand.[1][2]

References

  1. ^ 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
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ 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
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Numeratus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/numeratus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·