gremium Latin · revision 31034

+ {{infobox|confidence=uncertain|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *h₂grem-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈɡrɛ.mi.ũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈɡrɛː.mi.um]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''gremium''' ''n'' (genitive gremiī or gremī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is perhaps [[inh|itc-pro|*gremo-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*h₂grem-|t=to gather]], with an original sense “armload, embrace”; de Vaan marks the reconstruction as doubtful.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) He compares [[sa|ग्राम|tr=grā́ma-|t=train, troop]], and the OLD and the TLL compare [[cu|громада|tr=gromada|t=heap]], Köbler relates the root to [[m|ine-pro|*h₂ger-|t=to gather]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author.^(de Vaan 2008) Terence has the golden rain that Jupiter sent into Danaë's lap.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a person's lap, where a child is held, as Cicero's infant Jupiter sitting in Fortune's lap, and a place where things are carried or kept, as the apple that rolls from a girl's lap in Catullus.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Catullus also uses it of the female genitals.^(OLD 2012) By transfer it is a hollow in the ground, the soil that receives the seed (Cicero), and the interior or heart of a country, as Cicero's Thessalonians “in the lap of our empire”.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “lap”.^(Stelten 1995) In medieval Latin it was also an assembly or congregation, and the nave of a church, ''in gremiō mātris ecclēsiae'' is “in the bosom of the Church”.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 190–159 BC – Terence of Danaë's lap.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of an apple falling from a girl's lap.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # The [[m|en|lap]], bosom.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The lap as a place for carrying or keeping things.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(poetic)'' The female genitals.^(OLD 2012)

+ # The interior, heart (of a country); a hollow, basin.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' An assembly, [[m|en|congregation]]; the bosom (of the Church); the [[m|en|nave]] of a church.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sinus]]

+ * [[cremium]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''gremium'', the lap formed by the knees of one sitting, a figure of a mother's care, from [[sinus]], the bosom between the breasts, a figure of protection and refuge.^(Döderlein 1874) The OLD also lists a ''gremium'' that is a spelling of [[cremium]], “firewood”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}