axamenta

Latin

Etymology

From axō (“I name, nominate”) +‎ -mentum.

According to Lewis & Smith, from the sense of 'plank' of axis, as that's what the poems were written on.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ak.saːˈmen.ta/, [äks̠äːˈmɛn̪t̪ä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ak.saˈmen.ta/, [äksäˈmɛn̪t̪ä]

Noun

axāmenta n pl (genitive axāmentōrum); second declension

1. religious hymns, which were annually sung by the Salii

   • Axāmenta dīcēbantur carmina Saliāria, quae ā Saliīs sacerdōtibus canēbantur, in ūnīversōs hominēs composita. Nam in deōs singulōs versūs factī ā nōminibus eōrum appellābantur, ut Iānulī, Iūnōniī, Minerviī.

     Axamenta were called the incantations of the Salii, which were sung by the Salii priests, written for all people. Because verses written for individual gods were called by their names, like Janus verses, Juno verses, Minerva verses.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter), plural only

	plural
nominative	axāmenta
genitive	axāmentōrum
dative	axāmentīs
accusative	axāmenta
ablative	axāmentīs
vocative	axāmenta

References

• “axamenta”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• axamenta in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.