cumulus Latin · revision 32493

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=c. 180–102 BC, Lucilius|origins=ine-pro *ḱuh₁-mo-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈkʊ.mʊ.ɫʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈkuː.mu.lus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''cumulus''' ''m'' (genitive cumulī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is probably [[inh|itc-pro|*kumo-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*ḱuh₁-mo-|t=heap]].^(de Vaan 2008) De Vaan compares [[grc|κῦμα|tr=kûma|t=wave; foetus, sprout]].^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Schrijver doubts the link with the root *ḱuH- "to swell" because of the short ⟨u⟩, but de Vaan notes that it could come from a shortening of a pretonic long vowel, or from analogy with [[m|la|tumulus|t=mound]].^(de Vaan 2008) He notes that the verb [[m|la|cumulō]] is attested well before the noun.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The TLL records it from Lucilius, who mentions a basket with a deceptive heap on top.^(TLL)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a heap, pile or mound, also of water, a wave.^(OLD 2012) It is a mass or accumulation, as Cicero's great mass of debt, and an addition or increase: Cicero speaks of extra days of thanksgiving granted as an honour.^(OLD 2012) From this comes the sense of a finishing touch or crown, and of the highest point: Ovid has a crowning disgrace, and Cicero speaks of the peak of praise.^(OLD 2012) Quintilian says that some call the peroration of a speech cumulus.^(OLD 2012) The TLL finds it absent from Catullus and Lucretius.^(TLL) In Medieval Latin it can mean a sum of money and the ridge of a roof.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius of a heaped basket.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero of a mass of debt and of extra honours.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian of the peroration.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 1650s – English [[m|en|cumulus]] is borrowed for a heap; the use for a cloud comes later.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|heap]], [[m|en|pile]], mound; a heaped-up wave.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)^(Wiktionary)

+ # An accumulation, mass; a total amount.^(OLD 2012)

+ # An addition, [[m|en|surplus]], increase.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # The finishing touch, crown; the highest point, [[m|en|summit]]; in rhetoric, the peroration.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A sum of money; the ridge of a roof.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[cumulō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[en|cumulus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes it from [[acervus]] and [[congeries]], heaps of things piled up: cumulus is strictly not the heap itself but the top that completes it, as in [[cumulo|alt=cumulō]].^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}