frumentum

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *frūgməntom, equivalent to fruor (“I use, enjoy”) +‎ -mentum (instrumental suffix); ultimately, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰruHg-mn̥-to-m.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /fruːˈmen.tum/, [fruːˈmɛn̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /fruˈmen.tum/, [fruˈmɛn̪t̪um]

Noun

frūmentum n (genitive frūmentī); second declension

1. corn (British usage), grain
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 29.4:

     Mūnīre urbem, frūmentum convehere, tela arma parāre.

     To strengthen the defences of the city, to accumulate stores of grain, to prepare a supply of weapons and armour.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	frūmentum	frūmenta
Genitive	frūmentī	frūmentōrum
Dative	frūmentō	frūmentīs
Accusative	frūmentum	frūmenta
Ablative	frūmentō	frūmentīs
Vocative	frūmentum	frūmenta

Related terms

• frūctus
• frūmen
• frūmentor
• frūmentāceus
• frūmentālis
• frūmentārius
• frūmentātiō
• frūmentātor
• frūx

 

Descendants

• Catalan: forment
• Friulian: forment
• Dalmatian: furmiant
• Italian: frumento
• Lombard: forment, ⇒ formenton
• Franco-Provençal: froment
• Old French: froment, ferment, formant, forment, fronment, furment
  • Middle French: froment, forment, fourment
    • French: froment
    • →? Middle English: furment, firment, frument
  • ⇒ Old French: fourmenté
    • Middle French: fromenté
      • → Hungarian: furmint
      • → Middle English: furmente
        • English: frumenty
• Piedmontese: forment, ⇒ formenton
• Romansch: frument
• Sicilian: frummentu
• Venetian: formento, ⇒ formenton

References

• “frumentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “frumentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• frumentum in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• frumentum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • the corn is not yet ripe: frumenta in agris matura non sunt (B. G. 1. 16. 2)
    
  • to provide corn-supplies for the troops: frumentum providere exercitui
    
  • to procure a very large supply of corn: frumenti vim maximam comparare