Etymologically
Log in

numeratus

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 14:39. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

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