Path: nntp.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!news.szaf.org!inka.de!mips.inka.de!.POSTED.localhost!not-for-mail
From: Christian Weisgerber <naddy@mips.inka.de>
Newsgroups: alt.usage.english,sci.lang
Subject: Re: Word of the day; "grumous".
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2025 19:29:18 -0000 (UTC)
Message-ID: <slrn1068doe.498.naddy@lorvorc.mips.inka.de>
References: <878ql92c2w.fsf@parhasard.net>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Injection-Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2025 19:29:18 -0000 (UTC)
Injection-Info: lorvorc.mips.inka.de; posting-host="localhost:::1";
	logging-data="4393"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@mips.inka.de"
User-Agent: slrn/1.0.3 (FreeBSD)

On 2025-06-30, Aidan Kehoe <kehoea@parhasard.net> wrote:

> It’s an unremarkable borrowing from late Latin, OED describes [ad. late L. 
> grumus little heap, hillock;]. I can’t find any convincing further etymology
> beyond that.

De Vann in the _Etymological Dictionary of Latin_ (2008):

------------------->
grūmus ‘heap of earth, hillock’ [m. o] (Acc.+)
Derivatives: dēgrūmare 'to level off (Enn,+).
  PIt. *grōmo- ‘heap’.
  PIE *h₂ǵr-ōm-o-. IE cognates: see s.v. gremium.

Lat. grumus could be connected with gremium < *grem- and OCS gramada
‘heap, pile’ < *grōm-. A preform *grōmos may have turned into grūmus
phonetically: the change of *ōm > ūm might also found in hūmānus
(see s.v. homō). The words that retain -ōm- either have a following
front vowel (abdōmen, nōmen, fōmes, mōmentum. tōmenium, ōmen, vōmer,
cōmis) or are due to a contraction of *o+e (pōmum, prōmus); the
only exception is Rōma. Thus, the raising of *ō in front of m may
require the additional condition of a following back vowel (no
exceptions) or non-front vowel (exception Rōma; but being a name,
this may have escaped the sound change). For the relevance of the
vowel in the next syllabe for the a vowel change, compare the change
*e > o /m,w _ CV[non-front] discussed by Schrijver 1991: 466-470.
Note also that the raising of *ē to Lat. ī is conditioned in a
similar way, viz. by -i- in the next syllable,
  Bibl.: WH I: 623, EM 283, IEW 376ff. → gremium
<-------------------

-- 
Christian "naddy" Weisgerber                          naddy@mips.inka.de