mendum Latin · revision 36980

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=inherited|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=itc-pro *m(e)ndo-}}

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''mendum''' ''n'' (genitive mendī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*m(e)ndo-]].^(de Vaan 2008) If [[sga|mind|t=sign, mark]] belongs here, the word is an Italo-Celtic one; and if the first meaning was “sign, mark”, de Vaan suggests it might come from [[ine-pro|*men-|t=to think]], though he stresses that this is only a theoretical possibility.^(de Vaan 2008)^(Wiktionary) Pokorny and Köbler set up a root [[ine-pro|*mend-|t=fault, defect]].^(Köbler 2010)^(Pokorny 1959)

+

+ Cognate with [[sga|mennar|t=blemish]], [[cy|mann|t=place]] (compare [[m|cy|mann geni|t=birthmark]]), [[hit|mant-|t=something harming]] and perhaps [[xlc|mẽte-|t=harm]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ It is first found in Varro,^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010) for an error: in the ''De lingua Latina'' he notes that not every naming of things survives, nor was every surviving name given without a fault (''sine mendo'').^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Cicero uses it of mistakes in writing: an erasure that corrected a fault, and the copyists' errors to be removed from his books (''librariorum menda'').^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) He also plays on it in a letter, saying that the Ides of March “contain a great mistake”.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913) Ovid uses it of a bodily blemish: a face is rarely free of one (''rara tamen mendo facies caret'').^(OLD 2012)^(Conte 2010) The lawyer Ulpian uses it of a flaw in the appointment of an heir.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ In Late Latin it also meant a lie, a deceit, in the grammarian Charisius and in a manuscript of the Vulgate,^(Georges 1913) a sense recorded in Medieval Latin as well.^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro uses it of a fault in naming.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of errors in writing.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses it of a bodily blemish.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A physical [[m|en|blemish]] or defect.^(OLD 2012)^(Georges 1913)

+ # An [[m|en|error]], mistake, especially in writing.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # ''(law)'' A flaw (in a legal act).^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Late Latin)'' A [[m|en|lie]], [[m|en|deceit]].^(Georges 1913)^(Niermeyer 1976)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ēmendō]]

+ * [[menda]]

+ * [[mendāx]]

+ * [[mendīcus]]

+ * [[mendōsus]]

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+ ==Usage notes==

+ The feminine [[menda]] has the same meanings and is attested somewhat earlier; de Vaan takes it to be based on the old plural of ''mendum''.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Döderlein distinguishes ''menda'', a natural fault such as a bodily blemish, from ''mendum'', a fault committed, especially a slip in writing.^(Döderlein 1874)

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+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}