fimum

• fimus

From Proto-Italic *fūje-, from earlier *θūje, modeled on Proto-Indo-European *dʰuh₂-yé-ti, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂-. See also Latin furvus (“dark, swarthy”), fūmus (“smoke”) and fūlīgō (“soot”).

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfɪ.mũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfiː.mum]

fimum n (genitive fimī); second declension

1. dung, manure, excrement

   Synonyms: stercus, laetāmen

   • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Virgil, Georgics 2.346–353:

     Quod superest, quaecumque premes virgulta per agros,
     Sparge fimo pingui et multa memor occule terra,
     Aut lapidem bibulum aut squalentis infode conchas;
     Inter enim labentur aquae tenuisque subibit
     Halitus atque animos tollent sata; iamque reperti,
     Qui saxo super atque ingentis pondere testae
     Urgerent; hoc effusos munimen ad imbris,
     Hoc, ubi hiulca siti findit canis aestifer arva.

     • Translation by James B. Greenough

       For the rest, whate'er
       The sets thou plantest in thy fields, thereon
       Strew refuse rich, and with abundant earth
       Take heed to hide them, and dig in withal
       Rough shells or porous stone, for therebetween
       Will water trickle and fine vapour creep,
       And so the plants their drooping spirits raise.
       Aye, and there have been, who with weight of stone
       Or heavy potsherd press them from above;
       This serves for shield in pelting showers, and this
       When the hot dog-star chaps the fields with drought.

Second-declension noun (neuter).

• fimārium
• fimētum
• fimicolus

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: fimo
• ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *femum
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • Catalan: fem
    • Franco-Provençal: fien
    • Old French: fien
  • Ibero-Romance:
    • Aragonese: fiemo
      • → Spanish: fiemo, fimo
  • ⇒ Vulgar Latin: *femārium
    • Old French: femier
      • → Sicilian: fumeri

• “fimum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.