formaticum

Latin

Alternative forms

Etymology

By surface analysis, fōrma (“mould”) +‎ -āticum (noun-forming suffix). Has also been suggested to be a contraction of *[cāseus fōrmāticus] 'mould-cheese' (although the latter is not attested as an adjective), in which case the masculine variants would be original.

further information

Attested in the eighth-century Reichenau Glossary and the Capitulary of Charlemagne (802 CE).[1]

Displaced the original Latin term cāseus in Gallo-Romance, though apparently at a relatively late date, considering that the latter has left various reflexes,[2] such as the French casier (“cheese-basket”). On the other hand, the early Breton borrowing fourondec shows that the term pre-dates the syncope of the penultimate vowel in Gallo-Romance, a change which would have occurred at some point during the eighth or ninth century CE.[3]

Compare the single occurrence of fōrmulae in the sense of 'cheese-moulds' in Late Latin,[4] and several of its diminutive fōrmella.[5]

Noun

fōrmāticum n (genitive fōrmāticī); second declension (Early Medieval Latin)

  1. cheese
    Synonym: cāseus (Classical)

Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case Singular Plural
Nominative formāticum formātica
Genitive formāticī formāticōrum
Dative formāticō formāticīs
Accusative formāticum formātica
Ablative formāticō formāticīs
Vocative formāticum formātica

Descendants
  • Padanian: (competing with Gallo-Romance borrowings)
    • Friulian: formadi
    • Old Emilian: formadego[6] (Bologna)
    • >? Old Piedmontese: *formai
      • → Lombard: formai, furmai
        • → Emilian: furmàj, furmâj
        • → Ladin: formai
        • → Romagnol: furmàj, furmâj
        • → Venetian: formai, formajo
  • Gallo-Romance:
  • Borrowings:
    • → Old Breton: [Term?]
      • Middle Breton: fourondec, foulondec

References
  1. Blaise, Albert (1975) “formaticum (-ticus, forma, formagium)”, in Dictionnaire latin-français des auteurs du moyen-âge: lexicon latinitatis medii aevi (Corpus christianorum) (overall work in Latin and French), Turnhout: Brepols, page 396.
  2. Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “formaticum”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volumes 3: D–F, page 719
  3. Pope, Mildred K. 1934. From Latin to French. Manchester University Press. §165.1.
  4. Palladius, Opus Agriculturae 6.9.2
  5. formella in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
  6. Sorbello, Albano. 1906–7. L'Archiginnasio. Bollettino della Biblioteca comunale di Bologna. Vol. I–II. 178.
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