pumex Latin · revision 32461

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *(s)poHi-m-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈpuː.mɛks]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈpuː.meks]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''pūmex''' ''m'' or f (genitive pūmicis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Catullus uses it as a feminine.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ Plautus has the ablative ''pūmicī''.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*poim-Vk-]], from [[ine-pro|*(s)poHi-m-|t=foam]], and so related to [[spuma|alt=spūma]], “foam”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary)^(OLD 2012)^(TLL) Ernout and Meillet thought the name came from the stone's likeness to a sponge, but de Vaan prefers to explain it from its look of petrified foam.^(de Vaan 2008) Wiktionary compares [[m|la|rūmex]] for the unusual suffix.^(Wiktionary) According to Etymonline the Late Latin form pōmex, from which English took the word, came from Oscan or another dialect.^(Etymonline)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ Plautus has it first, in the ''Persa'': to ask water of a pumice stone, that is, money of someone who has none.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is pumice or any similar volcanic rock.^(OLD 2012) Plautus already uses it as an image of dryness: a pumice stone is not as dry as a certain old man.^(Lewis & Short 1879) It was used to polish the ends of book rolls, as with Catullus' new little book smoothed with dry pumice, and Propertius extends this to verse polished fine.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) It also served to smooth the skin, as in Ovid and Juvenal.^(OLD 2012) In poetry it is any porous rock, and in Horace rocks set against the sea.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of asking water of a pumice stone.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus of a book polished with pumice.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1400 – English [[m|en|pumice]] is borrowed through French.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|pumice|alt=Pumice]], a pumice stone; any similar volcanic rock.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+ # Pumice used to polish books or smooth the skin.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(poetic)'' Any porous rock; a rock.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[pūmiceus]]

+ * [[pūmicō]]

+ * [[pūmicōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[spūma]]

+ * [[en|pumice]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}