armentum

Latin

FWOTD – 10 May 2021

Alternative forms

• armenta (1st declension)

Etymology

A reanalysis of the older feminine singular armenta as a neuter plural, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂er-mn̥-teh₂, from *h₂er- (“to join”) + *-mn̥ + *-teh₂. Semantic development was "grouping, joining" > "herd". Related to arma.

Others (included ancient Romans) refer it to arō (“to plow”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /arˈmen.tum/, [ärˈmɛn̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /arˈmen.tum/, [ärˈmɛn̪t̪um]

Noun

armentum n (genitive armentī); second declension

1. A draft animal, a large domestic animal suitable for drawing a plow: an ox, a horse.
   • 1st century, L. Iunius Moderatus Columella, De Res Rustica, Book VI, Preface, Sect. 3:

     Unde etiam iūmenta et armenta nōmina ā rē trāxēre quod nostrum labōrem vel onera subvectandō vel arandō iuvārent.

     And so it is that iumenta and armenta draw their names from the fact that they aid our work either by bringing up burdens or by plowing.

2. Synonym of armenta: such animals taken collectively.
   • Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii Bucolica commentarii :

     Aliī nōn Diānae, sed Apollinī Nomiō cōnsecrātum carmen hoc volunt, quō tempore Admētī rēgis pāvit armenta.

     Others want this poem consecrated not to Diana, but to Apollo the Pasturer, when he tended to the draft animals of king Admetus.

Usage notes

In Latin, armenta are distinguished both from the iumenta used to draw carts and from weaker domestic animals (pecora) unable to pull heavy loads such as milk cows and horses used only as mounts.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	armentum	armenta
Genitive	armentī	armentōrum
Dative	armentō	armentīs
Accusative	armentum	armenta
Ablative	armentō	armentīs
Vocative	armentum	armenta

Hyponyms

• bos, equus

Derived terms

• armentālis

Descendants

• Asturian: armentíu
• Catalan: arment
• Galician: armentío
• → Italian: armento (learned)
• Portuguese: armento

Further reading

• “armentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “armentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• armentum 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)
• armentum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• "Pecus; Jumentum; Armentum; Grex" in H.H. Arnold's translation of Ludwig von Döderlein's Hand-Book of Latin Synonymes (1841), pp. 158–9.