Etymologically
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vomo

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈwɔ.moː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈvɔː.mo][1]

Forms

vomō (present infinitive vomere, perfect active vomuī, supine vomitum); third conjugation[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *weme/o-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *uemh1- (“to vomit”); the old root present was made thematic in Latin.[2] Cognate with Sanskrit वमिति (vámiti, “vomits”), Ancient Greek ἐμέω (eméō, “to vomit”) and Lithuanian vémti (“to vomit”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus,[2] whose Casina has “go away, unless you want me to be sick today!”.[3] Ennius already has the Tiber pouring into the salt sea.[3]

Semantic evolution

It means “to vomit, be sick”, and transitively to throw up food or blood, as Virgil's bull vomiting blood mixed with foam.[3][4] Lewis and Short note vomiting as a common Roman way of renewing the appetite.[4] Of things it is “to pour or belch out”, of rivers into the sea and of Etna's fire.[3][1]

Church Latin glosses it “vomit”.[5]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of being sick.[3][2][6]
  • 204–169 BC – Ennius of the Tiber pouring into the sea.[3][6]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of a bull vomiting blood.[3][6]

Meanings

Verb

  1. To vomit, be sick.[3][4][1][5]
  2. To vomit up, spew out.[3][1]
  3. Of things, to pour or belch out, discharge.[3][1]

Word family

  • vomāx
  • vomica
  • vomificus
  • vomitiō
  • vomitō
  • uomitor
  • vomitōrius
  • vomitus
  • vomicōsus
  • vomicus
  • vomifluus
  • English vomit

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g 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 k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de