-trum

trùm Latin Alternative forms la -tra f Etymology la instrument :inh itc-pro:*-trom<id:instrument> In inherited words, from la itc-pro *-trom, from la ine-pro *-trom. In words borrowed from Greek (and possibly in some neologisms), from la grc -τρον instrument noun suffix, a cognate of the Latin ending. Compare la -culum, la -crum, la -bulum, la -brum; these and la -trum seem to have originated as contextual variants of a single suffix. Pronunciation Suffix -trum<2> suffix forming instrument nouns from verbs la -culum -men -mentum -tōrium -ium Usage notes While Latin was a living language, this instrument noun suffix was less productive than la -culum (from ine-pro *-tlom, a variant form of the same suffix). Weiss 2009, citing Serbat 1975, describes -trum as moribund and unproductive after the time of Augustus;282 Owens 2016, citing Mir 1984, likewise characterizes la -trum as unproductive and "archaic even in the classical period".Owens Patrick M. 2016 Classical World 109 4 Barbarisms at the Gate: An Analysis of Some Perils in Active Latin Pedagogy 516 https://doi.org/10.1353/clw.2016.0047 In native Latin words, la -trum generally can be found only in two circumstances: directly after /s/. (The instrument noun suffix la -culum seems not to occur in this context.) Examples: la mōnstrum, la castrum, la haustrum. sometimes, after a stem that contains /r/ or /l/ (in any position).The Proto-Indo-European Instrument Noun Suffix *-tlom and its Variants, Birgit Anette Olsen, 1988. §9.2 pages 36-27 Examples: la arātrum plough, la mulctrum milk-pail, la rutrum shovel. However, la -trum is not always used in this context: the suffix la -culum may be found after /r/, and la -crum (a dissimilated variant of -culum) may be found after /l/. Words that show la -trum after earlier /r/ or /l/ might be remnants of an old formation pattern: la arātrum seems to be inherited from la ine-pro *h₂érh₃trom 1 (albeit with analogical replacement of la *-a- with la -ā-). Instrument nouns in la (...)r...culum and la (...)l...crum would then represent a more recent pattern. Sen 2015 assumes deverbal nouns ending in la -trum, such as la fulgetrum, were formed earlier than the two denominative nouns la tālitrum and la *calcitrum (the hypothetical base of the verb la calcitrō), arguing that in the latter words, the vowel before la -trum was reduced to la -i- because of a syllable boundary caused by a transparent morpheme boundary in archaic Latin.115 The corresponding Ancient Greek ending grc -τρον enjoyed a wider use, and some Greek words with this ending were adapted in ancient times as Latin words ending in la -trum, such as la scēptrum (from Greek grc σκῆπτρον) and la metrum (from Greek grc μέτρον). In addition, -trum has occasionally been used to derive neologisms from Latin roots outside of the two conditions described above. The earliest example of this may be la spectrum, from la speciō, first attested in antiquity in a pair of letters between Cicero and Cassius Longinus, where it is implied that Catius may have created the word as a translation of the Greek philosophical term grc εἴδωλον."Why is Latin spectrum a Bad Translation of Epicurus’ ΕΙΔΩΛΟΝ?", Sean McConnell, 2018. Mnemosyne 72 (2019) 154-162. In New Latin, la -trum has become more productive and popular as a means of forming neuter instrument nouns, apparently influenced by the masculine agent noun suffix la -tor, and by the way that certain modern languages use endings derived from la -tor to form inanimate nouns. For example, the New Latin terms la computātrum and la ōrdinātrum have been coined for 'computer' by partial analogy with words such as Spanish es computador and French fr ordinateur. Other New Latin coinages in la -trum include la mōtrum and la monitrum; compare English en motor and en monitor. In effect, some New Latin authors use la -trum as a neuter version of the agent noun suffix la -tor, similar to how la -trīx serves as its feminine equivalent (despite the fact that in classical Latin, only a small number of masculine agent nouns in la -tor have a corresponding neuter noun in la -trum). The suffix is typically neuter, but a feminine by-form la -tra can be seen in the instrument noun la mulctra (also la mulctrum), possibly also in la mollestra (but it is dubious whether this word contains this suffix). A masculine by-form la -ter can be seen in the instrument noun la culter knife and in la arāter, a rare variant form of la arātrum plough. Declension -trum<2> Derived terms la la -tra References