medimnum Latin · revision 32231

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=borrowing|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=grc μέδιμνος}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''medimnum''' ''n'' (genitive medimnī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ There is also a masculine ''medimnus'', in Lucilius and Nepos, and the TLL records a feminine ''medimna''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+ The genitive plural is ''medimnum''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|μέδιμνος|tr=médimnos]], a Greek measure of grain.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL) Isidore explained the name as Latin for half, [[m|la|dīmidius]], because it holds five modii, half of ten.^(Isidore)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The OLD's first example is Plautus' ''Stichus'', where someone wishes he had a thousand medimni of silver.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates it from Cicero.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is the Greek dry measure of six modii, a bushel;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucilius speaks of a first, second and third medimnus, and Cicero uses it in the ''Verrines'' of wheat sown on the land.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) A writer on surveying uses it of a measure of land in Cyrenaica.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of a thousand medimni of silver.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius has the masculine ''medimnus''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

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

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A Greek dry measure of six [[modius|alt=modiī]], a [[m|en|bushel]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A measure of land in Cyrenaica.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[modius]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}