regimentum

Forms

regimentum n (genitive regimentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin regō (“to direct, rule”) + -mentum,^[2][1][3] a post-classical extension of regimen.^[1][4] De Vaan reconstructs the verb as Proto-Italic *reg-e/o-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reǵ-e/o- (“to stretch, direct”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The first mention is in Festus (second half of the 2nd century AD), who notes that poets use regimen in place of regimentum.^[2][4][6]

Semantic evolution

In Late Latin it was used mostly in the plural for the powers of government: Charisius, in the Digest, speaks of these powers passing to the emperors, and Ammianus Marcellinus of high commands.^[4][3] Ammianus also uses it for the helm of the state that Fortune hands from Julian to Jovian.^[3] It survives in dialects of Apulia and Salento as a word for household implements.^[3]

Medieval British writers used it for guidance, governance and control, and in medicine for the regimen of the body.^[7] English borrowed it in the late 14th century, through Old French, as regiment “government, rule”; the military sense, recorded in English by the 1570s, came from French.^[8] Neo-Latin used it for the military unit too.^[9]

Timeline

• 2nd half of 2nd century AD – Festus mentions it.^[2][6]
• c. 390 AD – Ammianus Marcellinus uses it for high commands.^[4][3][6]
• 533 AD – The Digest uses it for the powers of government.^[4][6]
• late 14th century – Borrowed into English as regiment.^[8]
• 1579 – A Neo-Latin letter uses it for a military regiment of ten companies.^[9]

Meanings

Noun

1. Rule, government, direction; in the plural, powers of government, high offices.^[4][3][1]
2. (figurative) The helm (of the state).^[3]
3. (Medieval Latin) Guidance, control;^[7] (medicine) the regimen of the body.^[7]
4. (New Latin) A military regiment.^[9]

Related words

• regimen
• English regiment

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b c 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
8. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Ramminger, Johann, Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700, www.neulatein.de