Etymologically
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sementis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [seːˈmɛn.tɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [seˈmɛn.tis][1]

Forms

sēmentis f (genitive sēmentis); third declension[1] The accusative singular is usually sēmentem, but sēmentim occurs in Cato, Cicero and Columella.[2][3] The ablative is sēmentī or sēmente.[2] Later Latin also has a neuter sēmentium, with the plurals sēmentia and sēmenta.[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēmen (“seed”),[2][5][1] which belongs to serō1 (“to sow”).[6] De Vaan, following Leumann, thinks it may have been reshaped from an earlier neuter *sēmentum, and Wiktionary gives the same view as uncertain.[6][1]

The word for seed goes back to Proto-Italic *sēmn (“seed”) and Proto-Indo-European *seh₁-mn (“seed”), built on the root *seh₁- (“to sow”).[6] Cognate with Lithuanian sė́ti (“to sow”), Lithuanian sė́menys (“linseed”) and Latvian sẽt (“to sow”).[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on.[6][5] In the Menaechmi it appears in a joking threat, hisce ego iam sēmentem in ōre faciam “I'll do some sowing on these faces”, meaning a sound beating.[2][4] Cato uses it plainly for the sowing of crops, for the sowing season and for the crop that is sown.[2]

Semantic evolution

In Classical Latin it was the farmer's word for sowing: sēmentem facere meant to sow,[4][2] and Caesar has the plural for large sowings.[4][2] Cicero quotes the proverb ut sēmentem fēceris, ita metēs, “as you sow, so shall you reap”,[2][4] and uses the word figuratively for the sowing of evils.[2][4] By metonymy it named the sowing season, usually late autumn, in Cato and Columella,[2][4] and the seed sown or the young crop, in Ovid, Columella and Gellius.[2][4]

In later Latin it also took the form of a neuter sēmentium.[4][1] The Ecclesiastical dictionaries keep the senses of sowing and seed.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it in a jest about sowing blows on faces.[2][5]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato uses it for sowing, for seedtime and for the crop.[2][5]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero quotes the proverb of sowing and reaping.[2][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil advises stretching the sowing to midwinter frosts.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the plural of young crops.[2][5]
  • 354–430 AD – Augustine has the neuter plural sēmentia.[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Sowing, the sowing of seed;[2][3] sēmentem facere, to sow.[4]
  2. (figurative) A sowing (of evils and the like).[2][4]
  3. The sowing season, seedtime.[2][3]
  4. That which is sown: the seed, the crop;[2][4] (plural) young crops.[2][4]

Word family

  • sementifer
  • sēmentō
  • sementium
  • sēmentivus

Usage notes

The proverb ut sēmentem fēceris, ita metēs (Cicero, De oratore 2.261) corresponds to “as you sow, so shall you reap”.[2][4]

References

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