salum

Forms

salum n sg (genitive salī); second declension^[1] Ennius has a masculine salus, in the accusative salum.^[2][3] Lewis & Short note that it occurs only in the singular.^[3]

Etymology

It is probably borrowed from Ancient Greek σάλος (sálos, “movement of the sea”), as Lewis & Short have it; the OLD compares the Greek word, and Wiktionary gives the borrowing as one explanation.^[3][2][1] Wiktionary's other explanation derives it from sāl (“salt, sea”).^[1] Köbler compares a root Proto-Indo-European *sā̆lo- (“surging”) from Pokorny.^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Ennius,^[4] whose tragedy speaks of the surging swell.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is the sea in motion, the swell or billow, and Statius applies it to a river in spate.^[2] It is also the open sea away from land, as against the sea near the coast or in a port, as Accius' fleet drawn out into the deep, and poets name a particular sea, as Propertius' Aegean.^[2][3] Wiktionary also gives an anchorage or roadstead, and figurative uses for a sea of troubles.^[1]

Timeline

• 204–169 BC – Ennius of the surging swell.^[2][4]
• 170–c. 90 BC – Accius of a fleet drawn out to sea.^[2][4]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius of the Aegean sea.^[2][4]
• c. 45–96 AD – Statius of a river in spate.^[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The sea in motion, swell, billow; of a river in spate.^[2][1]
2. The open sea, the deep; poetically, a particular sea.^[2][3][1]
3. An anchorage, roadstead.^[1]
4. Figuratively, a sea of troubles.^[1]

Word family

• salor

Related words

• sāl

References

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