semuncia

Forms

sēmū̆ncia f (genitive sēmū̆nciae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēmi- (“half”) + ūncia (“a twelfth, ounce”).^[2][1][3] Varro explains it as half of that unit.^[2][4] De Vaan lists ūncia among the derivatives of ūnus (“one”), and traces the prefix to Proto-Indo-European *sēm-i (“in one”), whose meaning shifted to “half”.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest instances the OLD cites are in Cato, who lists sēmunciae among the equipment of olive orchards and vineyards, an item it cannot identify;^[2] Köbler records the word first in Varro.^[3]

Semantic evolution

As a fraction of the Roman duodecimal system it meant one twenty-fourth of any whole: Cicero has an heir to eleven twelfths and a twenty-fourth, ex deunce et sēmunciā, and Pliny the Elder speaks of twenty-fourths of hours.^[4] As a weight it was one twenty-fourth of a pound, half an ounce: Cicero has a praetor's ring made from in aurī sēmunciā, half an ounce of gold, and Livy reports a law that no woman should own more than half an ounce of gold.^[2] As a coin it was one twenty-fourth of an as, and Asconius uses it hyperbolically of goods sold for next to nothing.^[2]

Columella uses it for one twenty-fourth of a iugerum, and Tacitus, in the plural, of a rate of interest.^[2] Persius uses it figuratively of the smallest amount, half an ounce of right.^[2]

Timeline

• 234–149 BC – Cato lists sēmunciae among farm equipment.^[2][3]
• 116–27 BC – Varro defines it as half an ūncia.^[2][3]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of half an ounce of gold and of a twenty-fourth share of an inheritance.^[2][4]
• 34–62 AD – Persius uses it figuratively of a minimal amount.^[2]
• 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a twenty-fourth of a iugerum.^[2]
• 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the plural for a rate of interest.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. One twenty-fourth of anything.^[2][4]
2. A weight of one twenty-fourth of a libra, half an ounce;^[2] (figurative) a minimal amount.^[2]
3. A coin worth one twenty-fourth of an as.^[2]
4. One twenty-fourth of a iugerum.^[2]
5. (plural) A rate of interest.^[2]
6. An unidentified item of equipment for olive orchards and vineyards.^[2]

Word family

• semuncialis
• sēmunciārius

Related words

• ūncia
• sēmis

References

1. ^ a b c d 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill