faenum Latin · revision 34347

+ {{infobox|confidence=disputed|formation=inherited|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=ine-pro *dʰeh₁-no-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈfae̯.nũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈfɛː.num]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''faenum''' ''n'' (genitive faenī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Manuscripts write it ''faenum'', ''foenum'' or ''fenum''; the TLL takes ''faen-'' to be the original spelling, from ''faenisicei'' in an inscription of 117 BC.^(TLL)

+ The Romance words go back to ''fēnum''.^(TLL)

+ A masculine ''fēnus'' occurs in the Itala.^(Conte 2010)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The origin is uncertain.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) If the spelling ⟨fē-⟩ is the original one and ⟨fae-⟩ a hypercorrection, it is [[inh|itc-pro|*fēno-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-no-|t=yield]], from the root [[m|ine-pro|*dʰeh₁-]] “to suckle”, which would then also have meant “to bring forth”: the noun would have gone from “produce, yield” to “hay”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan relates [[m|la|fēcundus|t=fertile]], [[m|la|fēnus|t=interest on money]] and [[m|la|fētus|t=offspring]] to the same development.^(de Vaan 2008) But the TLL and Leumann take ⟨fae-⟩ to be the oldest spelling, from the inscriptional form of 117 BC, and then the etymology is unknown.^(de Vaan 2008)^(TLL) The TLL also separates it from [[m|la|festūca|t=stalk]].^(TLL)

+

+ Ancient grammarians derived it from the word for offspring, because the hay of the meadows stays and brings forth anew every year;^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Isidore of Seville explained it from the fire it feeds.^(TLL)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Cato,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who in the ''De agri cultura'' speaks of late-cut hay, ''faenum cordum'', and tells the farmer to cut the hay and take care not to cut it too late.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its main sense is hay;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''Faenum Graecum'', “Greek hay”, is [[m|en|fenugreek]] in Cato, Columella and Celsus.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) It appears in proverbs: Catulus, quoted by Cicero, said that beside a certain orator the others ought to be eating hay, and Horace's ''faenum habet in cornu'', “he has hay on his horn”, warns of a dangerous man, like an ox that butts.^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Juvenal speaks of the Jews whose furniture is a basket and hay.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In medieval British Latin it is hay and the hay crop, the second crop, the tithe of hay, and perhaps haymaking, hayfield and hay market;^(DMLBS) Bede uses it of cutting hay for winter.^(DMLBS) In Ecclesiastical Latin it means grass or hay.^(Stelten 1995) It continues in [[it|fieno]] and [[sc|fenu]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato uses it of hay and of fenugreek.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 117 BC – An inscription has ''faenisicei'', with the spelling ⟨fae-⟩.^(TLL)^(de Vaan 2008)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses the proverb ''faenum habet in cornu''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal speaks of the Jews' basket and hay.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # [[m|en|hay|alt=Hay]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''faenum Graecum'': [[m|en|fenugreek]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' The hay crop; the second crop of hay; the [[m|en|tithe]] of hay.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[faenārius]]

+ * [[faeneus]]

+ * [[faeniculum]]

+ * [[faenīle]]

+ * [[faenīlia]]

+ * [[faenisicium]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}