tumba

Forms

tumba f (genitive tumbae); first declension^[1] Medieval Latin also spelled it tomba.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek τύμβος (túmbos, “burial mound, tomb”), made into a first-declension noun;^[1][3] Lewis & Short and Köbler give a Greek feminine τύμβα (túmba) as its model.^[4][5] Wiktionary traces the Greek word to Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂- (“to swell”), and Etymonline reports the same suggestion from Watkins, but also Beekes' view that it is Pre-Greek and that Latin tumulus “mound” may contain the same Mediterranean word.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Its first known use is in Prudentius (348/49–c. 413), in his poem on the martyr Hippolytus: sunt et muta tamen tacitas claudentia tumbas marmora, “yet there are also mute marbles that close silent tombs”.^[6][4][5]

Semantic evolution

It is a Late Latin word for a grave or tomb, used by Jerome and in the travel account of Egeria.^[7][1] Medieval writers kept it for a grave or tomb,^[2][8] and Ecclesiastical Latin also uses it of a catafalque.^[9] In Italian sources Du Cange finds it for an open yard and for a farmstead.^[6] The British name Mons Tumba was Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy.^[8]

It gave Italian tomba and Spanish tumba, and through Old French tombe English tomb (about 1200); French tombeau comes from a diminutive *tumbellus.^[3][7]

Timeline

• 348/49–c. 413 AD – Prudentius uses it of tombs closed with marble.^[6][4][5]
• c. 383–419/420 AD – Jerome uses it.^[7][5]
• after 384 AD – The travel account of Egeria has it.^[7][5]
• c. 1200 – English tombe, from Old French.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. A grave, tomb, sepulchre.^[4][2][8][9]
2. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A catafalque.^[9]
3. (Medieval Latin) An open yard; a farmstead (in Italian sources).^[6]

Related words

• tumulus
• English tomb

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b c d du Cange, Charles du Fresne, et al. (1883–1887), Glossarium mediae et infimae latinitatis, augmented ed. by Léopold Favre, Niort: L. Favre
7. ^ a b c d Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
8. ^ a b c Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson