pulmentarium

Forms

pulmentārium n (genitive pulmentāriī or pulmentārī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin pulmentum (“small portion of meat or fish”) + -ārium.^[2][3] De Vaan derives pulmentum from an older Proto-Italic *pelp-mento-, with /e/ in the first syllable as Umbrian pelmner (“of meat”) shows, and relates it to pulpa (“flesh”).^[4] Wiktionary instead derives it from puls (“porridge”).^[1] In antiquity Varro took it from the word for a meat portion, while Pliny the Elder and Isidore took it from the word for porridge.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Cato on,^[4][3] for something eaten with bread or with a main dish as a relish.^[6][2]

Semantic evolution

The OLD defines it as anything used to flavour a meal, such as a vegetable or condiment;^[2] Seneca has dried figs serving as a relish.^[7] Columella uses it of birds' feed,^[6] and Horace's advice to seek one's relish by sweating gave it the broader sense of food in general, which the Vulgate also has.^[6][7]

Ecclesiastical Latin used it simply for food, anything to eat,^[8] and in British Medieval Latin it meant a dish of cooked food.^[9]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it in his work on farming.^[6][3]
• 65–8 BC – Horace tells his hearers to seek their relish by sweating.^[6][3]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of birds' feed.^[6][3]
• 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it for food.^[6][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. Anything eaten as a relish with bread or a main dish; a condiment.^[2][6]
2. Feed for birds.^[6]
3. Food in general.^[6][8]
4. (Medieval Latin) A dish of cooked food.^[9]

Related words

• pulpa
• puls

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b 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