stamen

Forms

stāmen n (genitive stāminis); third declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *stāmen, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂mn̥, from *steh₂- (“to stand”), the root of stō (“to stand”) and sistō.^[1][2][3] Cognate with Ancient Greek στήμων (stḗmōn, “warp”), Sanskrit स्थामन् (sthā́man, “place; strength”) and Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐍉𐌼𐌰 (stōma).^[1][2] Varro explained the name from standing, because all the cloth on the loom stands on the warp.^[2][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and the OLD date it from Varro, who uses it of the warp of the upright loom.^[5][2]

Semantic evolution

It is the vertical threads in a loom, the warp, as opposed to the subtemen or weft.^[2][6] It is also the thread drawn from the distaff in spinning, as Tibullus' long threads from a full distaff, and the thread of life spun by the Fates.^[2][6] In general it is a thread, a string of a musical instrument, or a filament in timber, and Pliny the Elder uses it of the stamen of a flower.^[2] In Medieval Latin it can mean a loom, and is also a form of stannum, tin.^[7] Modern botanical Latin took it up for the pollen-bearing organ in 1625, whence English stamen (1660s); English stamina (1670s) is its plural, first “rudiments”, and “endurance” only by 1726.^[3]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro of the warp of a loom.^[2][5]
• c. 55–19/18 BC – Tibullus of the thread of spinning and of the Fates.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder of the stamen of a flower.^[2][5]
• 1625 – Used in Modern Latin for the pollen-bearing organ of a flower.^[3]
• 1660s – English stamen is borrowed from it.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The warp of a loom.^[2][6][1]
2. The thread drawn from the distaff; the thread of life spun by the Fates.^[2][6][1]
3. A thread; the string of a musical instrument; a filament.^[2][6]
4. The stamen of a flower.^[2][3]
5. (Medieval Latin) A loom.^[7]

Word family

• stāmināria
• stāminātus
• stāmineus

Related words

• stō
• English stamen
• English stamina

Usage notes

Varro defines it beside subtemen, the weft, which goes under the warp.^[2][4]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Marcus Terentius Varro, De lingua Latina (text of The Latin Library; book and paragraph numbers as there).
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill