vomitus

Forms

vomitus m (genitive vomitūs); fourth declension^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin vomō (“to vomit”) + -tus, with the suffix of action nouns.^[2][1] The verb goes back to Proto-Italic *weme/o- and Proto-Indo-European *wemh₁- (“to vomit”).^[3][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus on,^[3][4] meaning the act of vomiting; in the Rudens he has pulmōneum vomitum vomere, to vomit up one's lungs.^[5][6]

Semantic evolution

Besides the act of vomiting, it came to mean the matter vomited, as in Celsus and Pliny the Elder.^[2][5] Lucilius and Plautus also used it as a term of abuse for a disgusting person.^[5][6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for vomiting.^[2][4]
• c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it as a term of abuse.^[5][4]
• 14–37 AD – Celsus uses the plural for green and black vomit.^[2][5][4]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for vomited matter.^[5][4]

Meanings

Noun

1. The act of vomiting.^[2][5]
2. Vomited matter, vomit.^[2][5]
3. (term of abuse) A disgusting person.^[5][6]

Usage notes

Vomitus, -a, -um is also the perfect passive participle of vomō, which Gaffiot lists as a separate headword.^[6]

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.