dumetum Latin · revision 34500

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=81–43 BC, Cicero|origins=itc-pro *dū̆smo-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dūmētum''' ''n'' (genitive dūmētī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Festus, in Paul the Deacon's epitome, reports that the ancients called it ''dumecta''.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+ Also written ''dummētum''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+ In quotations it is found only in the plural.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|dūmus|-ētum|t1=thornbush, bramble]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(TLL) De Vaan derives [[m|la|dūmus]] from [[itc-pro|*dū̆smo-]], noting an archaic adjective ⟨dusmo⟩ quoted from Livius Andronicus; he sees only one correspondence outside Italic, [[sga|dos|t=shrub]], and no further connections.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan, Köbler and the TLL record it first in Cicero,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)^(TLL) who uses the plural ''dumeta'' of thickets.^(Lewis & Short 1879) He also uses it figuratively: ''Stoicorum dumeta'', the thorny thickets of the Stoics, into which he does not want to force his speech.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a clump of thorn or other bushes, a thicket,^(OLD 2012) as in Virgil's ''Georgics'' and Horace's odes.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) Cicero's figurative uses of the thickets of Stoic argument, into which an opponent crawls, show it as an image of thorny reasoning.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Medieval writers in Britain use it for a brier-patch or thicket, as William of Malmesbury tells how the Danes threw Edmund's severed head into thickets.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of thickets and of the “thickets of the Stoics”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it in the ''Georgics''.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 65–8 BC – Horace uses it in the odes.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|thicket]], a clump of thornbushes, a [[m|en|briar|alt=brier]]-patch (usually in the plural).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary)^(DMLBS)

+ # ''(figurative)'' Thorny difficulties of argument.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[dūmus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}