habinam
Umbrian
The spelling of this entry has been normalized according to the principles established by Wiktionary's editor community or recent spelling standards of the language.
Etymology
Disputed. Possibilities include:
- (sense 1.1): From Proto-Italic *faf-īnā f (literally “related to fava beans”). Animals were fed such to facilitate their pregnancy.[1] Neither the /h-/ nor /-b-/ would be expected outcomes, and would imply the word to be borrowed from a neighboring Italic variety: compare Faliscan haba < *fafā.
- (sense 1.2): From Proto-Italic *agʷn-īnā f (“ewe lamb[2]”), with later dissimilation of the first /-n-/. The /h-/ would have emerged by influence of Proto-Italic *haidos (“goat”), unattested in Umbrian, but found as Latin haedus.[3]
Noun
habinam f
- a sacrificial animal. Further details are uncertain. Possibilities include:
- (female) stud, breeding animal, most probably a sow[1]
- ewe lamb[2]
References
- Ancillotti, Augusto; Cerri, Romolo (2015), “habina”, in Vocabolario dell'umbro delle tavole di Gubbio [Vocabulary of Umbrian and of the Iguvine Tables] (in Italian), page 23
- Buck, Carl Darling (1904), “habina”, in A Grammar of Oscan and Umbrian: With a Collection of Inscriptions and a Glossary, page 336
- De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “agnus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 30