axamenta
Latin edit
Etymology edit
From axō (“I name, nominate”) + -mentum.
According to Lewis & Short, from the sense of 'plank' of axis, as that's what the poems were written on.
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ak.saːˈmen.ta/, [äks̠äːˈmɛn̪t̪ä]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ak.saˈmen.ta/, [äksäˈmɛn̪t̪ä]
Noun edit
axāmenta n pl (genitive axāmentōrum); second declension
- religious hymns, which were annually sung by the Salii
- 1839 [8th century CE], Paulus Diaconus, edited by Karl Otfried Müller, Excerpta ex libris Pompeii Festi De significatione verborum, page 3, line 6:
- 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 edit
Second-declension noun (neuter), plural only.
| Case | Plural |
|---|---|
| Nominative | axāmenta |
| Genitive | axāmentōrum |
| Dative | axāmentīs |
| Accusative | axāmenta |
| Ablative | axāmentīs |
| Vocative | axāmenta |
References edit
- “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.