rumino

Forms

rūminō (present infinitive rūmināre, perfect active rūmināvī, supine rūminātum); first conjugation, no passive^[1] The deponent rūminor, rūminārī is also used, already by Livius Andronicus and Varro;^[2] Wiktionary treats it as the main form.^[1]

Etymology

It is formed from Latin rūmen (“first stomach, gullet”) + -ō.^[2][1] De Vaan lists rūmen beside ērūgō (“to belch”) and ructō, and derives it from ⟨*rū̆g-mn⟩ or ⟨*rū̆g-smn⟩;^[3] Etymonline calls its origin uncertain.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The oldest record is figurative: Livius Andronicus uses the deponent ruminetur in a tragedy for “turn over in the mind”.^[2] The literal sense, of cattle chewing the cud, appears in Virgil's Eclogues.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Varro also uses the deponent figuratively.^[2] Columella and Pliny the Elder use it of cattle, sheep and deer chewing the cud,^[2][6] and the Vulgate uses it in the food laws of Leviticus for the animals that chew the cud.^[6]

Christian writers took up the image for meditating on Scripture: Augustine speaks of savouring joys de pane tuo, “from your bread”,^[6] and Jerome uses it for turning a text over in the mind.^[5] English borrowed it as ruminate in the 1530s, first for musing and then for chewing the cud.^[4]

Timeline

• 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses the deponent for “turn over in the mind”.^[2]
• 116–27 BC – Varro uses it figuratively in his Menippean satires.^[2][7]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a bull chewing pale grass.^[2][7]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it of deer and other ruminants.^[2][6]
• 354–430 AD – Augustine uses it figuratively in the Confessions.^[6][7]
• 1530s – English borrows it as ruminate.^[4]

Meanings

Verb

1. To chew (food) over again, ruminate; to chew the cud.^[2][6]
2. (figurative) To turn over in the mind, meditate.^[2][5]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) To meditate on Scripture.^[6][5]

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d e f g Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
7. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de