armentum Latin · revision 31017

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=280/260–before 200 BC, Livius Andronicus|origins=ine-pro *h₂er-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

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

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

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''armentum''' ''n'' (genitive armentī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ The older form is a feminine ''armenta'', in Livius Andronicus, Ennius and Pacuvius.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ De Vaan reconstructs [[itc-pro|*armnto-]] and [[ine-pro|*h₂er-mn̥-to-]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*h₂er-|t=to join, fit]]; the OLD analyses it as that root and the suffix [[m|la|-mentum]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) He takes [[m|la|arma|t=weapons]] and ⟨armentum⟩ as separate formations on that root: arms are what is fitted together, a herd is a grouping.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary explains the neuter as the older feminine ⟨armenta⟩ taken as a neuter plural.^(Wiktionary) The root is that of [[grc|ἀραρίσκω|tr=ararískō|t=to fit together]].^(de Vaan 2008) Varro and Isidore derived it from [[m|la|arō|t=to plough]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Lewis and Short cite the older feminine ''armenta'' from Livius Andronicus and Ennius,^(Lewis & Short 1879) and Köbler lists the Twelve Tables.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a herd of cattle or horses, as Virgil's herds of oxen and Varro's herd that crops what grows in the field, and an individual head of cattle, a bull, or in Statius a horse.^(OLD 2012) In the plural it is the larger domestic animals in general, as Lucretius' “men, cattle and wild beasts”, and Curtius uses it of a kind of livestock.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “herd, cattle”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 280/260–before 200 BC – Livius Andronicus has the feminine ''armenta''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius of cattle as opposed to men.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro of a herd.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil of herds of oxen.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius of a single horse.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|herd]], drove (of cattle or horses).^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+ # A head of [[m|en|cattle]]; a bull; a horse.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(plural)'' Cattle, the larger domestic animals; a kind of livestock.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[armentālis]]

+ * [[armentārius]]

+ * [[armenticius]]

+ * [[armentiuus]]

+ * [[armentosus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[arma]]

+ * [[pecus]]

+ * [[grex]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein counts ''armenta'' and [[iūmentum|alt=iūmenta]] among the larger domestic beasts, oxen, asses and horses, as against the general word [[pecus]].^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}