nummus

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈnʊm.mʊs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnum.mus]^[1]

Forms

nummus m (genitive nummī); second declension^[1] It is also spelled nūmus.^[2]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek νοῦμμος (noûmmos), a Doric word related to Ancient Greek νόμος (nómos, “custom, law”), as the OLD and Wiktionary say; the original sense was the regular, statutory unit of currency.^[2][1] Wiktionary compares numerus “number”, from the same root.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of the silver didrachm.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Before about 190 BC it was the silver didrachm of southern Italy, as in Plautus, and afterwards the Attic drachma or the Roman denarius, as in Terence.^[2] In Cicero it meant a sesterce, often in mīlle nummum, and a coin in general, in nummīs in hard cash, and in Lucilius money, cash.^[2] Döderlein explains that pecūnia is money collectively, nummus a piece of money with regard to its value.^[4]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a coin.^[5] Medieval Latin used it for the denarius, the penny.^[6] British Medieval Latin used it for a coin, as of the emperor Decius.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the didrachm.^[2][3]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of the denarius.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the sesterce.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A silver didrachm; a denarius.^[2]
2. A sesterce.^[2]
3. A coin, in nummīs, in cash.^[2]
4. Money.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) A penny.^[6]

Word family

• nummārius
• nummātus
• nummulus
• trinummus
• multinummus
• negantinummius
• poscinummius

Related words

• pecūnia
• numerus
• monēta

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes it from pecūnia.^[4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
5. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ 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