semuncia Latin · revision 34746

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=compound|attested=234–149 BC, Cato|origins=la ūncia}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [seːˈmuːŋ.ki.a], [seːˈmʊŋ.ki.a]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [seˈmun̠ʲ.t͡ʃi.a]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sēmū̆ncia''' ''f'' (genitive sēmū̆nciae); first declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|sēmi-|ūncia|t1=half|t2=a twelfth, ounce]].^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary)^(Köbler 2010) Varro explains it as half of that unit.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) De Vaan lists [[m|la|ūncia]] among the derivatives of [[m|la|ūnus|t=one]], and traces the prefix to [[ine-pro|*sēm-i|t=in one]], whose meaning shifted to “half”.^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ The earliest instances the OLD cites are in Cato, who lists ''sēmunciae'' among the equipment of olive orchards and vineyards, an item it cannot identify;^(OLD 2012) Köbler records the word first in Varro.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a fraction of the Roman duodecimal system it meant one twenty-fourth of any whole: Cicero has an heir to eleven twelfths and a twenty-fourth, ''ex deunce et sēmunciā'', and Pliny the Elder speaks of twenty-fourths of hours.^(Lewis & Short 1879) As a weight it was one twenty-fourth of a pound, half an ounce: Cicero has a praetor's ring made from ''in aurī sēmunciā'', half an ounce of gold, and Livy reports a law that no woman should own more than half an ounce of gold.^(OLD 2012) As a coin it was one twenty-fourth of an as, and Asconius uses it hyperbolically of goods sold for next to nothing.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Columella uses it for one twenty-fourth of a iugerum, and Tacitus, in the plural, of a rate of interest.^(OLD 2012) Persius uses it figuratively of the smallest amount, half an ounce of right.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato lists ''sēmunciae'' among farm equipment.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro defines it as half an ''ūncia''.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of half an ounce of gold and of a twenty-fourth share of an inheritance.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ * 34–62 AD – Persius uses it figuratively of a minimal amount.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 1st century AD – Columella uses it of a twenty-fourth of a iugerum.^(OLD 2012)

+ * 98–115 AD – Tacitus uses the plural for a rate of interest.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # One twenty-fourth of anything.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A weight of one twenty-fourth of a [[libra]], half an [[m|en|ounce]];^(OLD 2012) ''(figurative)'' a minimal amount.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|coin]] worth one twenty-fourth of an [[as]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # One twenty-fourth of a [[iugerum]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(plural)'' A rate of [[m|en|interest]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # An unidentified item of equipment for olive orchards and vineyards.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[semuncialis]]

+ * [[sēmunciārius]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[ūncia]]

+ * [[sēmis]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}