fluentum Latin · revision 35782

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=96–55 BC, Lucretius|origins=la fluō}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''fluentum''' ''n'' (genitive fluentī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|fluō|t=to flow]],^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) probably a singular made from ⟨fluenta⟩, the neuter plural of the present participle [[m|la|fluēns|t=flowing]], as Leumann explains it.^(de Vaan 2008) The verb goes back to [[itc-pro|*flow-e/o-]] and [[ine-pro|*bʰleuH-|t=to flow over]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan and Köbler record it first in Lucretius,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) who speaks of ''fluenta lubrica'', “slippery streams”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It is a word of poetry and of post-classical prose, used mostly in the plural for the waters of a stream or river: Virgil has ''Xanthi fluenta'' and ''Tiberina fluenta'', and also the waters of a lake.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Lucretius once uses it for a current of air, and Apuleius for a stream of flames.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ The singular appears in Apuleius, Ausonius and Prudentius.^(Lewis & Short 1879) In the Vulgate it is used of the Jordan, and in Ecclesiastical Latin it means a river or running water.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Stelten 1995)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses ''fluenta'' for streams.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of the Xanthus and the Tiber.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 125–175 AD – Apuleius uses the singular, and the phrase “streams of flames”.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it of the waters of the Jordan.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''(usually plural)'' A [[m|en|stream]], river, [[m|en|flood]]; the waters of a river or lake.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A stream or current of something else, such as air or fire.^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[fluentisonus]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}