formaticum

Latin

Alternative forms

• fōrmāticus, firmāticus, fōrmātis, fōrmādeus, fōrmārius, fōrmāsius, fōrmādium
• fōrmāgium (borrowed back through Romance, especially French)

Etymology

By surface analysis, fōrma (“mould”) +‎ -āticum (noun-forming suffix). Has also been suggested to derive from an ellipsis of *[cāseus fōrmāticus] "mould-cheese", although fōrmāticus is not attested as an adjective. Attested in the eighth-century Reichenau Glossary and the Capitulary of Charlemagne (802 CE).^[1]

further information

Displaced the Classical Latin synonym 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 fōrmāticum arose prior to 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 the several occurrences 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).

	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
      • → Venetan: formai, formajo
        • → Istriot: furmajo
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: formatge
  • Franco-Provençal: fromâjo
  • Old French: fromage (see there for further descendants)
  • Old Occitan: formatge, fromatge
    • Occitan: formatge, fromatge
• 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, 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.