aerumna

Latin

Etymology

Unknown. Two explanations have been proposed: as a loan from Greek αἰρομένη (airoménē), and as having been borrowed from an Etruscan source; de Vaan (2008) points out that connection with αἰρομένη (airoménē) – the feminine middle/passive participle of αἴρω (aírō), in turn the contracted form of ἀείρω (aeírō) – is problematic, as there is no example in Greek of the use of the feminine form of this participle as a noun meaning "burden"; and that an Etruscan etymology is impossible to prove.^[1]

Noun

aerumna f (genitive aerumnae); first declension

1. need, want
2. trouble, toil, hardship
3. distress, tribulation, calamity

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	aerumna	aerumnae
genitive	aerumnae	aerumnārum
dative	aerumnae	aerumnīs
accusative	aerumnam	aerumnās
ablative	aerumnā	aerumnīs
vocative	aerumna	aerumnae

References

1. De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7)‎, Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN

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