Etymologically
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stramentum

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [straːˈmɛn.tũː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [straˈmɛn.tum][1]

Forms

strāmentum n (genitive strāmentī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sternō (“to spread”) + -mentum.[2][3] Wiktionary takes it as a variant of strāmen with that suffix.[1] De Vaan traces sternō to Proto-Italic *sterna- and Proto-Indo-European *st(e)r-n-h₃- (“to spread, strew”), comparing Sanskrit स्तृणाति (str̥ṇā́ti, “to spread out, strew”) and Ancient Greek στόρνυμι (stórnumi).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[4] who has someone spend the whole night on straw bedding.[2][3]

Semantic evolution

It is straw or other litter used as rough bedding, mostly in the plural, and straw for other uses: Cato wraps a graft in straw against frost, Livy has the crop cut with its straw, and Hirtius bundles of straw set alight.[2][3] Varro uses it of the stalk of grain.[2] In the plural it is the covering laid on a pack animal so the load does not chafe: Caesar has the packsaddles taken off a great number of mules.[2] The jurist Gaius uses it of blankets and rugs, without which no one can live.[2] In Medieval Latin it is a prayer rug.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of straw bedding.[2][4][6]
  • 234–149 BC – Cato of straw wrapped round a graft.[2][6]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar of packsaddles.[2][6]
  • 140–180 AD – Gaius of blankets and rugs.[2][6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Straw or other litter used as bedding; straw for other uses.[2][3][1]
  2. A stalk of grain.[2][1]
  3. (plural) The covering of a pack animal, packsaddle.[2][1]
  4. (plural) Blankets, rugs.[2]
  5. (Medieval Latin) A prayer rug.[5]

Word family

  • strāmentārius
  • strāmentīcius
  • strāmentor
  • substramentum

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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  6. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de