aerumna Latin · revision 31358

+ {{infobox|confidence=unknown|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''aerumna''' ''f'' (genitive aerumnae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Ennius spells it ''erumna''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is unknown.^(Wiktionary) It is often taken as a loan from [[grc|αἰρομένη|tr=airoménē|t=being lifted]], but de Vaan notes that Greek never uses this participle as a noun meaning “burden”; a borrowing from Etruscan has often been claimed but cannot be proved.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) The OLD compares the Greek word and the endings of [[m|la|alumna|t=foster-daughter]] and [[m|la|columna|t=column]].^(OLD 2012) Lewis and Short report the old derivation from [[m|la|aegrimōnia|t=grief]], and, after Paulus' abridgement of Festus on ⟨aerumnula⟩, an original sense “frame for carrying loads on the back”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has “not even the sixth labour was harsher to Hercules than this one set before me” in the ''Epidicus'',^(OLD 2012) and de Vaan also dates it from Plautus;^(de Vaan 2008) Ennius has “what hardships you have borne”.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a task or labour, as in Plautus' comparison with the labours of Hercules, and trouble, affliction or distress, as in Ennius.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) Lewis and Short call it mostly ante-classical, though Cicero uses it several times for the many shades of suffering;^(Lewis & Short 1879) Quintilian found it obsolete.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Church Latin glosses it “affliction, hardship, trial, trouble”.^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of Hercules' labours.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 204–169 BC – Ennius of hardships borne.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of suffering.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian calls it obsolete.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A task, [[m|en|labour|alt=labour]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Trouble, [[m|en|hardship]], [[m|en|affliction]], distress.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[aerumnabilis]]

+ * [[aerumnōsus]]

+ * [[aerumnula]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[labor]]

+ * [[molestia]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''labor'', toil that needs strength and causes weariness, ''molestia'', trouble that dispirits, and ''aerumna'', hardship almost beyond human strength that bows even a hero, an old, half-poetic word.^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}