rudimentum

Forms

rudīmentum n (genitive rudīmentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin rudis¹ (“rough, raw, untrained”) + -mentum.^[2][1][3] De Vaan gives two competing etymologies for rudis: a link with Old High German grioz (“sand, gravel”) and Lithuanian grúdas (“corn”), which would need a questionable loss of initial /gʰ/ in Latin, and the one most handbooks prefer, from the word for “red”, which Risch derives from Proto-Indo-European *h₁rudʰ-i-; de Vaan objects that neither the adjective nor rūdus (“rubble”) shows any trace of a meaning “red”.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler records it first in Livy,^[3] who speaks of the first trial of a boy's reign, rudimentum primum puerilis regni.^[2][5] Virgil has the hard first lessons of war, dura rudimenta belli.^[5] Lewis & Short note that it is not found before the Augustan age.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It was used most often in the army, of a soldier's first training: Livy has rudimentum militare and Velleius Paterculus rudimenta militiae.^[5] The phrase rudimentum ponere or rudimenta deponere meant to gain one's first experience or to finish one's apprenticeship.^[2][5] By metonymy it was the first essay that came out of such lessons, as in Ovid's turpe rudimentum, “a shameful first exploit”.^[2] Quintilian speaks of the first rudiments of rhetoric,^[5] Petronius of sketches by Protogenes,^[5] and Suetonius of first steps in public duties.^[5] In Aulus Gellius it is the first beginnings of something that will grow, the beginnings of life.^[2] In Medieval Latin it meant a beginning or early stage and also teaching and first lessons.^[6] English borrowed rudiment in the 1540s, from French or directly from Latin.^[7]

Timeline

• 70–19 BC – Virgil, the first lessons of war.^[5][3]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, a first trial and military training.^[5][3]
• 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, “a first exploit”.^[2][3]
• c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian, the first principles of rhetoric.^[5][3]
• c. 165 AD – Aulus Gellius, the beginnings of life.^[2][3]
• 639–709 AD – Aldhelm, of first exercises of the mind.^[6][3]
• 1540s – Borrowed into English as rudiment.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. First lessons, early training, apprenticeship, especially in the army; often plural.^[2][5]
2. A first experience or trial;^[2][5] rudimentum ponere, to gain one's first experience.^[2][5]
3. A first attempt or essay, the fruit of one's early lessons.^[2][5]
4. Plural: the first principles, rudiments (of an art or study).^[5][1]
5. The first beginnings of something that will develop.^[2]
6. (Medieval Latin) Teaching, instruction.^[6]

Related words

• rudis¹
• ērudiō
• English rudiment

Usage notes

Lewis & Short compare tīrōcinium, the usual word for a recruit's first service.^[5]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
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 f g h i j k l m n o p q Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com