ulmus

Pronunciation

• Classical: [ˈʊɫ.mʊs]^[1]
• Ecclesiastical: [ˈul.mus]^[1]

Forms

ulmus f (genitive ulmī); second declension^[1] Catullus uses it as a masculine.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *elmos, through ⟨*olmos⟩.^[3][1] Cognate with Old Irish lem (“elm”), Russian ильм (ilʹm, “wych elm”), Old Norse almr (“elm”) and English elm.^[3][4][1] Wiktionary reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *h₁élem (“elm”), but de Vaan notes that the word is found only in Italic, Celtic, Germanic and Slavic and is hard to reconstruct, which suggests a non-Indo-European origin.^[1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cato,^[5] who prescribes a wheel made of elm wood.^[4] Plautus already has the adjective ulmeus (“of elm”) and the joke name ulmitriba (“one who wears out elm rods”) for a slave often beaten.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the elm tree, and elm wood: Virgil has the elm bent into the shape of the plough.^[4][2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has the adjective ⟨ulmeus⟩.^[3][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato of elm wood.^[4][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil of an elm-wood plough.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. An elm tree.^[4][2][1]
2. Elm wood.^[4]

Word family

• ulmārium
• ulmeus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de