Etymologically
Log in

promeritum

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 19:37. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Forms

prōmeritum n (genitive prōmeritī); second declension[1][2]

Etymology

It is from Latin prōmereō (“to deserve, merit”), the neuter of its perfect participle used as a noun.[1][2][3] The verb is a compound of mereō (“to earn”), recorded, like it, from Plautus on.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Plautus,[5] who uses it both of a service that earns thanks and, in a bad sense, of what someone deserves.[2][6]

Semantic evolution

In a good sense it is a service or meritorious act that entitles someone to thanks or regard, as in Pacuvius, Lucretius, Cicero's speech to the people after his return and Ovid's Fasti.[1][6][2] In a bad or neutral sense it is any act that brings its due recompense, guilt: in the Bellum Africum men despair of their lives because of what they have deserved.[1][6][2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in good and bad senses.[2][6][5]
  • 220–130 BC – Pacuvius uses it of a service deserving thanks.[6][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of merit.[6][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it in the Fasti.[6][2][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A service or meritorious act that entitles someone to thanks or regard; merit.[1][6][2]
  2. In a bad or neutral sense, what one has deserved; guilt, fault.[1][6][3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  3. ^ a b Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
  4. ^ 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press