pavimentum

Forms

pavīmentum n (genitive pavīmentī); second declension^[1] Inscriptions have paimentum.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin paviō (“to beat, ram down”) + -mentum.^[2][1] De Vaan traces paviō to Proto-Italic *pawje/o- and Proto-Indo-European *ph₂u-ye/o- (“to hit”), comparing Ancient Greek παίω (paíō, “to strike”) and Lithuanian pjáuti (“to cut”); Oscan pavmentúm is borrowed from Latin.^[4] Gellius denies that it is a compound.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Cato, who tells how to lay a floor of broken pottery, ram it and rub it with oil so that it is a good floor.^[4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a floor of small stones, earth or lime beaten hard with a rammer, a pavement.^[5][2] The Bellum Alexandrinum uses it of a roof built the same way.^[2] Köbler's first source is Lucilius.^[6] Inscriptions spell it ⟨paimentum⟩, ⟨pementu⟩ and ⟨pabimentu⟩.^[2][3] Church Latin glosses it floor, pavement, ground.^[7] English pavement comes from it, partly through Old French, in the mid-13th century.^[8]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato of laying a floor.^[5][4][6]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it.^[6]
• 130 AD – An inscription has paimentum.^[3]
• mid-13th century – English borrows it as pavement.^[8]

Meanings

Noun

1. A floor of stones or lime beaten hard; a pavement, paved surface.^[2][5][7][1]
2. A roof built in the same way.^[2]

Related words

• paviō
• English pavement

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
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 c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com