tormentum Latin · revision 18091

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *torkʷ-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [tɔrˈmɛn.tũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [torˈmɛn.tum]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''tormentum''' ''n'' (genitive tormentī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is formed [[af|la|torqueō|-mentum|t1=to twist]], from ⟨*torkʷ-mn̥-to-⟩: a thing twisted, or a device worked by twisting.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan derives [[m|la|torqueō]] from [[itc-pro|*torkʷ-eie-|t=to twist]], a causative [[ine-pro|*torkʷ-eie-|t=to twist]], cognate with [[sa|तर्कु|tr=tarku-|t=spindle]] and [[txb|tärk-|t=to turn]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Köbler dates it from Plautus,^(Köbler 2010) who has ''tormentō nōn retinērī potuit ferreō'', “he could not have been held back by an iron cable”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ ''Tormentum'' is first “a rope, cable” of twisted fibres.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) It is the general word for catapults, ballistas and other war machines worked by twisted cords, and for the missiles they throw.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) It is torture as a means of judicial inquiry or punishment, and the instruments of torture, and so any “acute pain, torment, agony” of body or mind (Ovid: ''lībera tormentō pars mihi nē qua vacet'', “so that no part of me should be free of torment”).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary also records “a clothes press”.^(Wiktionary)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “instrument of torture, rack, engine for hurling missiles”,^(Stelten 1995) and in New Latin it is “a gun, cannon”.^(Wiktionary) English [[m|en|torment]] comes from it, through Old French, about 1300.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus: ''tormentō … ferreō''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero: ''tormenta tēlōrum'', “engines for missiles”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid: ''lībera tormentō pars''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1300 – English [[m|en|torment]].^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A rope, cable (of twisted fibre).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A war engine for hurling missiles, [[m|en|catapult]]; its missile.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # [[m|en|torture]]; an instrument of torture, the [[m|en|rack]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # [[m|en|torment]], anguish, agony.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A clothes press.^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(New Latin)'' A gun, [[m|en|cannon]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[tormentuosus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[tormina]]

+ * [[torminālis]]

+ * [[torminōsus]]

+ * [[torqueō]]

+ * [[en|torment]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}