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The corpus record — Latin

gemma

gemma

bud or eye (in trees); jewel

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 91 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. gemma — de Vaan

gemma 'bud or eye (in trees); jewel' [1 ο] (Ρ1.+) Derivatives: gemmare 'to come into bud' (Varro+), gemmans decorated with gems' (Lucr.+). Pit. *gebma- 'bud, sprout'. PIE *geb-m- 'sprout, bud'. IE cognates: Lith. zembeti 'to germinate, sprout', 3s. zembi, OCSprozqbngti 'to germinate'. The meaning 'bud, sprout' is primary. There are two competing traditional etymologies. WH and IEW prefer a derivation *gembh-na to … — [de Vaan, s.v. gemma, p. 271]

2. gemma — Lewis & Short

gemma, ae, f.cf. Gr. ge/mw, to be full; Lat. gumia; lit. a fulness, swelling. The ancients supposed the original meaning to be a precious stone, Quint. 8, 6, 6; cf. Cic. Or. 24, 81; id. de Or. 3, 38, 155,

I a bud, eye, or gem on a plant.
I Lit.: ineunte vere exsistit tamquam ad articulos sarmentorum ea, quae gemma dicitur, Cic. de Sen. 15, 53: (pampinus) trudit gemmas et frondes explicat omnes, Verg. G. 2, 335; jam laeto turgent in palmite gemmae, id. E. 7, 48; Col. 4, 29, 4.—
II Transf. (from the resemblance to buds in shape and color), a precious stone, esp. one already cut, a jewel, gem, the predom. signif. of the word (opp. lapillus, one that is opaque, v. Dig. 34, 2, 19, § 17; cf. also: margarita, unio): nego in Sicilia tota ... ullam gemmam aut margaritam, quicquam ex auro aut ebore factum ... quin conquisierit, etc., Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 1, § 1: pocula ex auro gemmis distincta clarissimis, id. ib. 2, 4, 27, § 62: vas vinarium ex una gemma pergrandi, id. ib.: Cyri ornatus Persicus multo auro multisque gemmis, id. de Sen. 17, 59: gemmas sunt qui non habeant, Hor. Ep. 2, 2, 180: cum virides gemmas collo circumdedit (mulier), Juv. 6, 458: non gemmis venale, Hor. C. 2, 16, 7: vitrea, i. e. a false gem, Plin. 35, 6, 30, § 48; also called facticia, id. 37, 7, 26, § 98: nec premit articulos lucida gemma meos, Ov. H. 15, 74: nec sufferre queat majoris pondera gemmae, Juv. 1, 29: usus luxuriantis aetatis signaturas pretiosis gemmis coepit insculpere, Capitol. ap. Macr. S. 7, 13, 11; Vulg. Exod. 25, 7 et saep. —
2 Transf.
a Things made of precious stones.
(a) A drinking-vessel, goblet or cup, made of a precious stone: nec bibit e gemma divite nostra sitis, Prop. 3, 5 (4, 4), 4; cf.: ut gemmā bibat, Verg. G. 2, 506: gemmā ministrare, Sen. Prov. 3 fin.; cf. also: in gemma posuere merum, Ov. M. 8, 572.—
(b) A seal ring, signet: protinus impressā signat sua crimina gemmā, Ov. M. 9, 566; cf. Plin. 37, 1, 2, § 3; 37, 5, 20, § 78: arguit ipsorum quos littera gemmaque, Juv. 13, 138; 1, 68.—Hence, comically: Pl. Opsecro parentis ne meos mihi prohibeas? Cu. Quid? ego sub gemmane apstrussos habeo tuam matrem et patrem? i. e. under lock and key, Plaut. Curc. 5, 2, 8.—
b A pearl (poet.): legitur rubris gemma sub aequoribus. Prop. 1, 14, 12: cedet Erythraeis eruta gemma vadis, Mart. 8, 28, 14. —
c The eyes of the peacock's tail: gemmis caudam stellantibus implet, Ov. M. 1, 723; cf.: gemmea cauda, Phaedr. 3, 18, 8). —
B Trop., like gem in English, ornament, beauty (post-Aug. and very rare): multas in digitis, plures in carmine gemmas Invenies, Mart. 5, 11, 3: Hesperius gemma amicorum, Sid. Ep. 4, 22.

In the wild

6 of 443 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. gemma (scan p. 271; entry #673). Root candidates: *gebma-, *gembh-, *gem-.
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. gemma (scan p. 293; entry #4588).

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.