fames Latin · revision 18082

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|attested=280/260–before 200 BC, Livius Andronicus}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈfa.meːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈfaː.mes]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''famēs''' ''f'' (genitive famis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Cato and Lucilius have the genitive ''famī'', Varro the nominative ''famis''; the ablative is ''famē'', with a long ''ē'' in the poets.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Etymonline) Walde and, hesitantly, Pokorny reconstructed [[ine-pro|*dʰH-|t=to vanish, dwindle]], linking it with [[m|la|fatīgō|t=to tire]], [[m|la|fessus|t=weary]], [[sga|ded-|t=to vanish]] and [[non|dási|t=slow]];^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) de Vaan finds this comparison too vague in form and meaning, and suggests that the stem ⟨fam-ē-⟩ may point to a root ⟨*fam-⟩.^(de Vaan 2008) The noun is passing from the fifth declension to the third.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler date it from Livius Andronicus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) Naevius has ''famēs ācer augēscit hostibus'', “fierce hunger grows on the enemy”, and Plautus ''hunc famēs iam occīderit'', “hunger will have killed him by now”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Famēs'' is the desire for food, “hunger, appetite”, and the lack of food, “starvation”, then a scarcity of food, “famine” (Cicero: grain exported in a time of famine), and in medical writers fasting as a treatment.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Figuratively it is a craving, as in Virgil's ''aurī sacra famēs'', “accursed hunger for gold”, and in rhetoric a meagre, dry style.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''famēs'', hunger from want of food (opposite of satiety), from ''ēsuriēs'', the craving of an empty stomach, and ''inedia'', not eating at all.^(Döderlein 1874) Church Latin glosses it “hunger, famine”.^(Stelten 1995) English [[m|en|famine]] comes from it through Vulgar Latin and Old French in the mid-14th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus uses it.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 235–200 BC – Naevius: ''famēs ācer augēscit hostibus''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a famine.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil: ''aurī sacra famēs''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-14th century – English [[m|en|famine]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|hunger]], appetite.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # Lack of food, [[m|en|starvation]]; [[m|en|famine]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # ''(medicine)'' Fasting.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A craving, greed.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(rhetoric)'' Meagreness of style.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[fatīgō]]

+ * [[famēlicus]]

+ * [[en|famine]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}