pomerium

Forms

pōmērium n (genitive pōmēriī or pōmērī); second declension^[1] It is also spelled pōmoerium; the first spelling is most frequent in inscriptions, the second in manuscripts.^[2][3] Varro's postmoerium seems to have been inferred from the etymology.^[3]

Etymology

De Vaan takes it as a compound, from Latin post (“behind”) + mūrus (“wall”), from an older form meaning “what is behind the wall”;^[4][1] the old diphthong of ⟨moerus⟩ was not changed to /ī/ as expected in a non-initial syllable, so the word may be an archaism.^[4] The OLD suggests instead that it is perhaps Etruscan.^[2]

Ancient writers made the same connection with the wall: Varro wrote ⟨postmoerium⟩, and Paulus' epitome of Festus explains another archaic form as “next to the wall”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan records it from Varro,^[4] who also uses it figuratively of the bounds that writers set to their subject.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It was the open strip of land left free of buildings inside and outside the walls of a town, marked by boundary stones and forming the limit within which the city's auspices were taken; it is used especially of Rome.^[2][3] Cicero writes of entering and crossing the pomerium and of the law that governs it, and Livy, Tacitus and Gellius use it.^[3] An inscription of 8 BC records it.^[3] Juvenal's wit born intra pomeria is the wit of the city.^[3]

Apuleius uses it of the boundary of any town.^[2] Medieval glossaries define it as the space around the walls.^[5] In medieval Latin it could also stand for pomarium, an orchard.^[6]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of town bounds and, figuratively, of the limits of a subject.^[2][3][7]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero writes of crossing the pomerium.^[3][7]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy uses it.^[3][7]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses it of the pomerium of Rome.^[3][7]
• c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses it of the bounds of any town.^[2][7]

Meanings

Noun

1. The open strip of land round the walls of a town that formed its sacred boundary, especially that of Rome.^[2][3]
2. The boundary of any town.^[2]
3. (figurative) The bounds or limits of a subject.^[2][3]
4. (Medieval Latin) An orchard.^[6]

Related words

• mūrus
• post

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
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. ^ 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
6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
7. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de