fundamentum

Latin

Etymology

fundō +‎ -mentum

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /fun.daːˈmen.tum/, [fʊn̪d̪äːˈmɛn̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /fun.daˈmen.tum/, [fun̪d̪äˈmɛn̪t̪um]

Noun

fundāmentum n (genitive fundāmentī); second declension

1. foundation

   Synonym: fundāmen

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 1.427–428:

     hīc portūs aliī effodiunt; hīc alta theātrīs
     fundāmenta locant aliī [...].

     Here some [workers] are excavating a harbor; there others lay deep foundations for theaters [...].

2. beginning
3. basis

   Synonyms: basis, crepīdō

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	fundāmentum	fundāmenta
Genitive	fundāmentī	fundāmentōrum
Dative	fundāmentō	fundāmentīs
Accusative	fundāmentum	fundāmenta
Ablative	fundāmentō	fundāmentīs
Vocative	fundāmentum	fundāmenta

Related terms

• fundāmen
• fundus

Descendants

• Catalan: fonament
• Old French: fondement, fundement
  • French: fondement
    • → Romanian: fundament
  • → Middle Dutch: fondament
    • Dutch: fundament (see there for further descendants)
  • → English: fundament
    • → Welsh: ffwndament
• Italian: fondamento
  • → English: fondamento
• Old Galician-Portuguese: fondamento
  • Galician: fundamento
  • Portuguese: fundamento
• Spanish: fundamento

• Bulgarian: фундамент (fundament)
• Danish: fundament
• Norwegian: fundament (Bokmål), fundament (Nynorsk)
• Old High German: fundament
  • Middle High German: fundament
    • German: Fundament
    • Luxembourgish: Fundament
• Old Irish: fundamint
  • Irish: fundaimint, fuaimint
• Polish: fundament
• Russian: фундамент (fundament)
• Serbo-Croatian: фундамент / fundament
• Swedish: fundament

References

• “fundamentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “fundamentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• fundamentum 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)
• fundamentum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to lay the foundations: fundamenta iacere, agere