talentum

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek τάλαντον (tálanton, “a weight; talent”), from Proto-Indo-European *tl̥h₂ent-, from *telh₂-. In post-Classical Latin, the term was used figuratively to refer to a gift from God in general, influenced by the biblical Parable of the Talents (Matthew 25:14–30); the medieval sense “skill, ability” is an extension of this usage.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /taˈlen.tum/, [t̪äˈɫ̪ɛn̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /taˈlen.tum/, [t̪äˈlɛn̪t̪um]

Noun

talentum n (genitive talentī); second declension

1. A Grecian weight, which contained sixty minae or half a hundredweight.
2. A talent or sum of money; usually the Attic talent (sometimes with magnum).

   Vīgintī talentiīs ūnam ōrātiōnem Īsocratēs vēndidit.

   Isocrates sold one oration for twenty talents.

3. (Late Latin, figuratively) A gift from God, grace.
4. (Medieval Latin, New Latin, by extension) A marked natural skill or ability.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	talentum	talenta
Genitive	talentī	talentōrum
Dative	talentō	talentīs
Accusative	talentum	talenta
Ablative	talentō	talentīs
Vocative	talentum	talenta

Derived terms

• talentārius

Descendants

• Catalan: talent
• English: talent
• French: talent
• Friulian: talent
• German: Talent
• Italian: talento
• Piedmontese: talent
• Portuguese: talento, tento, talante
• Romanian: talent
• Spanish: talento
• → Proto-West Germanic: *talentā (see there for further descendants)

References

• “talentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• talentum 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)
• “talentum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin
• “talentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “talentum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• talentum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “talentum”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC
• Niermeyer, Jan Frederik (1976) “talentum”, in Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden, Boston: E. J. Brill, page 1012