Etymologically
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semuncia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [seːˈmuːŋ.ki.a], [seːˈmʊŋ.ki.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [seˈmun̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.a][1]

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

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