tormentum

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tormentum.

Noun

tormentum (plural tormenta)

1. (historical) An ancient engine for hurling missiles.

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *torkmentom. Related to torqueō (“twist, bend, wind”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /torˈmen.tum/, [t̪ɔrˈmɛn̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /torˈmen.tum/, [t̪orˈmɛn̪t̪um]

Noun

tormentum n (genitive tormentī); second declension

1. an engine for hurling missiles; a shot or missile thrown by this, artillery
2. a (twisted) cord or rope
3. an instrument of torture
4. torture, anguish, pain, torment
5. a clothes press, mangle
6. (New Latin) gun, cannon

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	tormentum	tormenta
Genitive	tormentī	tormentōrum
Dative	tormentō	tormentīs
Accusative	tormentum	tormenta
Ablative	tormentō	tormentīs
Vocative	tormentum	tormenta

Derived terms

• tormentuōsus

Related terms

• tormina
• torminālis
• torminōsus
• torqueō

Descendants

• Catalan: turment
• Dalmatian: tormiant
• English: torment
• French: tourment, tourmente
• Friulian: torment
• Galician: tormento
• Italian: tormento, tormenta
• Neapolitan: turmiento
• Portuguese: tormento, tormenta
• Romanian: turment
• Sardinian: tormentu, tromentu, trumentu, turmentu
• Spanish: tormento, tormenta

References

• “tormentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “tormentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• tormentum 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)
• tormentum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to threaten some one with death, crucifixion, torture, war: minitari (minari) alicui mortem, crucem et tormenta, bellum
    
  • to have a person tortured: alicui admovere tormenta
    
  • to have a person tortured: quaerere tormentis de aliquo
    
  • the pains of torture: cruciatūs tormentorum
    
  • to rain missiles on a town, bombard it: oppidum tormentis verberare
    
• “tormentum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “tormentum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin