venenum Latin · revision 5672

+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=derivation|attested=Plautus|origins=ine-pro *wenh₁-}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [wɛˈneː.nũː]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [veˈnɛː.num]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''venēnum''' ''n'' (genitive venēnī); second declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*wenes-no-]], a derivative of [[venus]] “desire, love”, from the root *wenh₁- “to desire”.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Walde and Hofmann took the first sense to be “love potion”, from magic, but de Vaan also allows a shift from “with desire” through “addictive” to “poisonous”.^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[sa|वनति|tr=vanati|t=desires, wins]].^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus, who says Medea cooked an old man with her drugs and made him young again.^(de Vaan 2008)^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates it from Afranius.^(Köbler 2010) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ It was first any potent herb or substance used in medicine or magic, a drug or charm, as Pacuvius' drugs that turned a friend's heart, and the law spoke of ''malum venēnum'' “a harmful drug”.^(OLD 2012)^(Gaffiot 2016) Then it was a poison, as Accius' veins steeped in a viper's venom, and anything destructive, as Varro's frost, poison to tender roots.^(OLD 2012) With an adjective of place it meant a dye, as Virgil's Assyrian dye.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ Döderlein says ''venēnum'' was an artificial, sweet-tasting poison, ''virus'' a natural animal poison, and ''toxicum'' poison as a technical term.^(Döderlein 1874) Vulgar Latin *''venīmen'' gave Old French ''venim'', the source of [[en|venom]] in the mid-13th century.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of Medea's drugs.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 170–c. 90 BC – Accius speaks of a viper's venom.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it of a dye.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * mid-13th century – English ''venom'' is recorded.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A potent drug, herb, charm (for medicine or magic).^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|poison]], [[m|en|venom]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # Anything harmful or destructive.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A [[m|en|dye]].^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[venēfica]]

+ * [[venēficium]]

+ * [[venēficus]]

+ * [[venēnārius]]

+ * [[venēnifer]]

+ * [[venēnō]]

+ * [[venēnōsus]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[venus]]

+ * [[vīrus]]

+ * [[en|venom]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ Döderlein distinguishes ''toxicum'' (poison as a natural-history term), ''venēnum'' (an artificial, tempting poison) and ''vīrus'' (an animal's venom).^(Döderlein 1874)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}