Re: elementum

--- In cybalist@yahoogroups.com, Rick McCallister <gabaroo6958@...> wrote:

>
> I seem to remember reading that elementum was from Greek via Etruscan. Is that true?

It is true that you read that (possibly in Palmer), but the etymology is silly. Supposedly, Greek <elephanta> nt. pl. 'ivory (letters)' was borrowed into Etruscan, then corrupted into <elementa> in Latin. This is allegedly justified by Praenestine Etruscan <Melerpanta> 'Bellerophon', an extreme case of "obscurum per obscurius", since we do not know the route by which this name, lacking an etymology in the first place, reached the Etruscans of Praeneste.

Another bad etymology (but agreeing with Sean's opt. sdl. methodology) regards <elementum> as a form of <alimentum>.

The most plausible view is that Roman schoolboys used *elemena 'the LMN's' as we use 'the ABC's', with all syllables but the last accented, since the letter-names were <el>, <em>, <en>. When this slang term was formalized, it became <elementa> on the basis of other nt. pl. nouns in -menta. Since the word was formed long after the stage of internal-vowel weakening, the /e/ was retained in each syllable.

DGK