Etymologically
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nummus

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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

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