hymen Latin · revision 34604

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

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈhy.meːn]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈiː.men]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''hymēn''' ''m'' (genitive hyminis or hymenis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Ovid scans the first syllable long.^(OLD 2012)

+ Gaffiot records it only in the nominative and vocative.^(Gaffiot 2016)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[bor|grc|ὑμήν|tr=humḗn|t=wedding cry; god of weddings]].^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Köbler 2010) Beekes treats the Greek word as distinct from its homonym meaning “membrane”;^(Beekes 2010) Frisk held the two to be the same word, while others have proposed a Pre-Greek origin for the wedding cry.^(Beekes 2010) Köbler also takes the cry to be probably a popular teasing call identical with the word for membrane.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It first appears in Plautus, as the wedding refrain ''Hymen Hymenaee, o Hymen!'' in the ''Casina''.^(OLD 2012)^(TLL)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ In Latin it was the refrain chanted at weddings, joined with ''Hymenaee'', and also the god of marriage it was personified as;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Catullus has it in his wedding songs, and Ovid uses it both of the god and of the wedding song itself.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) By extension it came to mean marriage, in Ovid, Seneca and Statius.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) The TLL notes that the word is used almost only by poets.^(TLL)

+

+ In Medieval Latin it could mean a wedding or sexual union.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it as the wedding refrain.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it in his wedding songs.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it for the wedding song and for marriage.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * before 1083 – A medieval text Köbler cites uses it for a wedding or sexual union.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|refrain]] chanted at weddings;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) ''(personified)'' Hymen, the god of [[m|en|marriage]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A wedding song.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)

+ # Marriage, a [[m|en|wedding]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Wedding; sexual union.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[hymenaeus]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ A separate word ''hymēn'' “membrane”, especially the [[m|en|hymen]], borrowed from the Greek word for membrane, occurs in Servius' commentary on the ''Aeneid''.^(Georges 1913)^(Gaffiot 2016)^(Köbler 2010) In British Medieval Latin it meant a caul or similar membrane.^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}