libamen

Latin

Etymology

From lībō (“I make a libation”) +‎ -men (noun-forming suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /liːˈbaː.men/, [lʲiːˈbäːmɛn]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /liˈba.men/, [liˈbäːmen]

Noun

lībāmen n (genitive lībāminis); third declension

1. libation, offering to the gods; firstfruits
   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.733–734:

     Nōmine ab auctōris dūcunt lībāmina nōmen
     lībaque, quod sānctīs pars datur inde focīs.

     Libations and cakes draw their names from the name of their inventor,
     because a portion of them is being offered upon the sacred hearths.
     (Ovid credits the god Liber, or Bacchus, with the origin of ancient sacred ritual practices, such as offering a ‘‘libamen’’ (libation) and a ‘‘libum’’ (cake). For another likely link to Liber’s name – and the Latin ‘‘libo’’ – see also the Greek λείβω, ‘‘to pour.’’)

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	lībāmen	lībāmina
genitive	lībāminis	lībāminum
dative	lībāminī	lībāminibus
accusative	lībāmen	lībāmina
ablative	lībāmine	lībāminibus
vocative	lībāmen	lībāmina

Synonyms

• lībāmenta

Related terms

• lībāmenta
• lībātiō
• līber

Descendants

• Italian: libame

References

• “libamen”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “libamen”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• libamen in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.