nummus Latin · revision 8316
16 Oct 2026, 16:00 by bogdan “New Latin entry (sources: de Vaan, OLD, Lewis & Short, TLL...)” current version
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+ {{infobox|confidence=probable|formation=borrowing|attested=Plautus|origins=grc νόμος}}
+
+ ==Pronunciation==
+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈnʊm.mʊs]^(Wiktionary)
+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈnum.mus]^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Forms==
+ '''nummus''' ''m'' (genitive nummī); second declension^(Wiktionary)
+ It is also spelled ''nūmus''.^(OLD 2012)
+
+ ==Etymology==
+ It is [[bor|grc|νοῦμμος|tr=noûmmos]], a Doric word related to [[grc|νόμος|tr=nómos|t=custom, law]], as the OLD and Wiktionary say; the original sense was the regular, statutory unit of currency.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) Wiktionary compares [[numerus]] “number”, from the same root.^(Wiktionary)
+
+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==
+ The OLD's earliest citation is from Plautus, of the silver didrachm.^(OLD 2012) Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Semantic evolution==
+ Before about 190 BC it was the silver didrachm of southern Italy, as in Plautus, and afterwards the Attic drachma or the Roman denarius, as in Terence.^(OLD 2012) In Cicero it meant a sesterce, often in ''mīlle nummum'', and a coin in general, ''in nummīs'' in hard cash, and in Lucilius money, cash.^(OLD 2012) Döderlein explains that ''pecūnia'' is money collectively, ''nummus'' a piece of money with regard to its value.^(Döderlein 1874)
+
+ In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant a coin.^(Stelten 1995) Medieval Latin used it for the denarius, the penny.^(Niermeyer 1976) British Medieval Latin used it for a coin, as of the emperor Decius.^(DMLBS)
+
+ ==Timeline==
+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the didrachm.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 190–159 BC – Terence uses it of the denarius.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of the sesterce.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)
+
+ ==Meanings==
+ ===Noun===
+ # A silver didrachm; a denarius.^(OLD 2012)
+ # A [[m|en|sesterce]].^(OLD 2012)
+ # A coin, ''in nummīs'', in cash.^(OLD 2012)
+ # Money.^(OLD 2012)
+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' A [[m|en|penny]].^(Niermeyer 1976)
+
+ ==Word family==
+ * [[nummārius]]
+ * [[nummātus]]
+ * [[nummulus]]
+ * [[trinummus]]
+ * [[multinummus]]
+ * [[negantinummius]]
+ * [[poscinummius]]
+
+ ==Related words==
+ * [[pecūnia]]
+ * [[numerus]]
+ * [[monēta]]
+
+ ==Usage notes==
+ Döderlein distinguishes it from [[pecūnia]].^(Döderlein 1874)
+
+ ==References==
+ {{reflist}}