Etymologically
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subtemen

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [sʊpˈteː.mɛn][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [subˈtɛː.men][1]

Forms

subtēmen n (genitive subtēminis); third declension[1] It is also spelled subtegmen.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a noun from Latin sub- + texō (“to weave”) + -men, from ⟨*subteximen⟩ by way of ⟨*subtecmen⟩.[2][3][1] Wiktionary explains the long ⟨ē⟩ as compensatory lengthening when ⟨*-ksm-⟩ was reduced.[1] De Vaan traces texō to Proto-Italic *tekse/o- and Proto-Indo-European *teḱ-s- (“to fashion”), cognate with Sanskrit तक्षति (tákṣati, “fashions, forms”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it first in Plautus;[4] Köbler dates it from Virgil.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the weft, the cross threads woven in between the warp threads on a loom, in the plural or as a collective singular:[2][3] Ovid describes the weft drawn through with the shuttle, and Varro, Vitruvius and Pliny the Elder use it.[3] It is often coloured or of gold for ornament: Virgil has robes embroidered with gold weft, and a poem in the Tibullan corpus a garment shining with Tyrian weft.[2] Catullus applies it to the thread spun by the Fates, in the refrain "run, spindles, drawing the threads".[2] It also means spun thread or yarn.[1] The spelling subtegmen occurs in Catullus and Valerius Flaccus and as a variant elsewhere.[2]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.[4]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of the threads of the Fates.[2]
  • 116–27 BC – Varro.[3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of gold weft.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of the weft drawn through with the shuttle.[3]

Meanings

Noun

  1. The weft, woof, the cross threads woven through the warp;[2][3][1] (ornamental) coloured or gold weft.[2][3][1]
  2. The thread spun by the Fates; spun thread, yarn.[2][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de