salum
Pronunciation
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
- The sea in motion, swell, billow; of a river in spate.[2][1]
- The open sea, the deep; poetically, a particular sea.[2][3][1]
- An anchorage, roadstead.[1]
- Figuratively, a sea of troubles.[1]
Word family
- salor
Related words
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ 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
- ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de