Etymologically
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vinum

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈwiː.nũː][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈviː.num][1]

Forms

vīnum n (genitive vīnī); second declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *wīno-, from the Indo-European word for vine and wine, Proto-Indo-European *ueih₁-(ō)n (“vine, wine”).[2] De Vaan, after Beekes, derives it from the root for “to weave, wrap”, the vine being “the weaving one”.[2] The OLD instead thinks the words in Greek, Armenian and Semitic all come from a common Mediterranean source.[3]

Cognate with Faliscan uinom, Umbrian vinu and Hittite u̯ii̯an- (“wine”),[2] and with Ancient Greek οἶνος (oînos, “wine”) and Old Armenian գինի (gini).[3] English wine is an early borrowing of the Latin word into Proto-Germanic.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Livius Andronicus has “the wine which they poured as a libation”.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

It meant wine, the grapes for a vintage, as Plautus' wine hanging rotten before it is ripe, and a similar drink made from other fruit, as myrtle-berry wine in Celsus.[3] In vulgar Latin a masculine vinus appears in Petronius.[5]

Döderlein says vinum was the usual word and temetum the old and poetic one.[6] Isidore thought it was named because it fills the veins (venae) with blood.[7] Every Romance language kept it, as Italian vino and French vin.[8][1] English vine comes from its derivative vīnea.[4]

Timeline

  • 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it of a libation.[3][9]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of wine and of grapes on the vine.[3][9]
  • 14–37 AD – Celsus uses it of wine pressed from myrtle berries.[3][9]
  • before 66 AD – Petronius has the masculine vinus.[5][9]
  • c. 1300 – English vine comes from its derivative vīnea.[4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Wine.[3][1]
  2. The grapes of a vintage.[3][1]
  3. A wine made from other fruits or plants.[3]

Word family

  • vīnācea
  • vīnāceum
  • vīnāceus
  • vīnālis
  • vīnāriārius
  • vīnārium
  • vīnārius
  • vīndēmia
  • vīndēmiālis
  • vīndēmiātor
  • vīndēmiātōrius
  • vīndēmiō
  • emō
  • vieō
  • vītis
  • English wine
  • English vine

Usage notes

Döderlein notes that temetum was the antiquated, poetic word for wine.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  5. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  6. ^ a b Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  8. ^ Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  9. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de