sarmentum

Forms

sarmentum n (genitive sarmentī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sarpō (“to prune, cut off”) + -mentum.^[2][3][4][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *serp-(j)e/o- and Proto-Indo-European *s(e)rp- (“to cut off”).^[5] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἅρπη (hárpē, “sickle”) and Latvian sirpis (“sickle”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^[5] in whose Mostellaria one character threatens another: iam iubēbō ignem et sarmenta, carnufex, circumdarī, "now I'll have fire and brushwood put round you, you scoundrel".^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the plural it is cut twigs, loppings (above all from vines) and brushwood;^[2] Lewis & Short note that Cicero and Caesar use only the plural.^[3] Cicero has it of vine shoots in On Old Age, Caesar uses it, and Livy has bundles of brushwood and brushwood tied to the horns of oxen.^[3][4] In the singular Varro and Columella use it of a growing shoot, especially of the vine.^[2][3] Medieval British writers use it of loppings, of firewood and with reference to the sticks of Acts 28:3.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of brushwood for a fire.^[2][5]
• 116–27 BC – Varro of a growing shoot.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero of vine shoots.^[3][7]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar.^[3]
• 1st century AD – Columella of vine shoots.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural) Cut twigs, loppings, especially from vines; brushwood, faggots.^[2][3][1][8]
2. (singular) A growing twig, shoot, especially of a vine.^[2][3][1]

Word family

• sarmenticius
• sarmentōsus

Related words

• sarpō

References

1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ 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. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson