ornamentum

Forms

ōrnāmentum n (genitive ōrnāmentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin ōrnō (“to equip, adorn”) + -mentum.^[2][1][3] De Vaan derives ōrnō from ⟨*ōrd-n-āre⟩, a verb made from ōrdō (“row, order”), which kept the special sense “to adorn”, while ōrdinō was made later with the general sense “to put in order”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan and Köbler date it from Livius Andronicus.^[4][3] Plautus has a parasite offer himself for sale cum ōrnāmentīs omnibus, “with all my equipment”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Ōrnāmentum is first “equipment, accoutrements”, and of animals “trappings, harness”.^[2][5][1] It is an object of adornment, personal or architectural, “an ornament, jewel” (Plautus: aurum, ōrnāmenta, vestem, “gold, ornaments, clothes”), and in the plural the insignia of a rank or office.^[2][1] It is also a rhetorical or literary ornament (Cicero), and figuratively something that adds lustre, “an honour, distinction”, as Cicero calls Sicily ōrnāmentum imperiī, the first province, an ornament of the empire.^[2][1]

Church Latin glosses it “ornament, furniture, decoration, vestment”.^[6]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.^[4][3]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: cum ōrnāmentīs omnibus.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero: Sicily, ōrnāmentum imperiī.^[2][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. equipment, accoutrements; trappings, harness.^[2][5][1][6]
2. An ornament, decoration; a jewel.^[2][1][6]
3. (plural) insignia (of a rank or office).^[2][1]
4. A rhetorical ornament.^[2]
5. An honour, distinction.^[2]

Word family

• ornāmentārius

Related words

• ōrnō
• ōrnātus
• ōrdō

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson