iumentum

Latin

Alternative forms

• iouxmentom (archaic)
• jūmentum (alt. spelling)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *jouksməntom, a back-formation from the plural *jouksmənta, from *jungō (“to yoke, join”) + *-mənta (suffix forming collective nouns). These elements correspond to Classical Latin iungō and -menta.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /i̯uːˈmen.tum/, [i̯uːˈmɛn̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /juˈmen.tum/, [juˈmɛn̪t̪um]

Noun

iūmentum n (genitive iūmentī); second declension

1. (zoology) A draft animal, a beast of burden, a large domestic animal suitable for drawing carts and carriages: a cow, horse, mule, or donkey.

   Synonym: veterīnum

   Hyponyms: asinus, bōs, equus, mūlus

   • 1st century, L. Iunius Moderatus Columella, De Res Rustica, Book VI, Preface, Sect. 3:

     Unde etiam iumenta et armenta nomina a re traxere quod nostrum laborem vel onera subvectando vel arando iuvarent.

     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. (zoology) Synonym of iūmenta: such animals taken collectively.
3. (vehicles) A vehicle drawn by such animals: a wagon, a carriage, a cart.

   Synonyms: carrus, plaustrum

4. (Late Latin) mare, female horse (Lex Salica)

Usage notes

In Latin, iūmenta are distinguished both from the armenta used to draw ploughs and from weaker domestic animals (pecora) unable to pull heavy loads such as riding horses and donkeys used only as pack animals.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	iūmentum	iūmenta
Genitive	iūmentī	iūmentōrum
Dative	iūmentō	iūmentīs
Accusative	iūmentum	iūmenta
Ablative	iūmentō	iūmentīs
Vocative	iūmentum	iūmenta

Derived terms

• iūmentārius

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: giumento
    • → Romansch: giumaint
    • → Sicilian: giumentu
  • Neapolitan: jummiento, jummenta
  • Sicilian: jumentu, jumenta
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: jument, jumente (sense 2)
    • French: jument
      • → Catalan: jument
      • → Franco-Provençal: jument
    • Norman: jeunment
    • → Middle English: jument
      • English: jument
• Borrowings:
  • → Catalan: jument, jumenta
  • >? Middle English: jument
    • English: jument
  • → Portuguese: jumento, jumenta
  • → Spanish: jumento

References

• “iumentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• iumentum 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)
• "Pecus; Jumentum; Armentum; Grex" in H.H. Arnold's translation of Ludwig von Döderlein's Hand-Book of Latin Synonymes (1841), pp. 158–9.