sermo

See also: sermó

Italian

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin sermō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈsɛr.mo/
• Rhymes: -ɛrmo
• Hyphenation: sèr‧mo

Noun

sermo m (plural sermi)

1. (archaic) Alternative form of sermone
   • 1300s–1310s, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XIII”, in Inferno‎^[1], lines 136–138; republished as Giorgio Petrocchi, editor, La Commedia secondo l'antica vulgata‎^[2], 2^nd revised edition, Florence: publ. Le Lettere, 1994:

     Quando ’l maestro fu sovr’esso fermo, / disse: «Chi fosti, che per tante punte / soffi con sangue doloroso sermo?».

     When near him had the Master stopped, he said: “Who wast thou, that through so many wounds art blowing out with blood thy painful speech?”

Anagrams

• merso, morse

Latin

Alternative forms

• serm. (abbreviation)

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *sermō (with stem sermōn- for *sermin-, from the nominative case), from Proto-Indo-European *sérmn̥ and/or Proto-Indo-European *sérmō, from *ser- (“to bind”) + *-mō. Related to serō (“to join”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈser.moː/, [ˈs̠ɛrmoː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈser.mo/, [ˈsɛrmo]

Noun

sermō m (genitive sermōnis); third declension

1. a conversation, discussion

   Synonyms: alloquium, colloquium, parlamentum

   • c. 4 BCE – 65 CE, Seneca the Younger, De brevitate vitae 15:

     Horum te mori nemo coget, omnes docebunt; horum nemo annos tuos conteret, suos tibi contribuet; nullius ex his sermo periculosus erit, nullius amicitia capitalis, nullius sumptuosa obseruatio.

     No one of these will force you to die, but all will teach you how to die; no one of these will wear out your years, but each will add his own years to yours; conversations with no one of these will bring you peril, the friendship of none will endanger your life, the courting of none will tax your purse.

2. a rumor, diction, speech, talk, discourse
3. a language, manner of speaking
4. a sermon

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	sermō	sermōnēs
Genitive	sermōnis	sermōnum
Dative	sermōnī	sermōnibus
Accusative	sermōnem	sermōnēs
Ablative	sermōne	sermōnibus
Vocative	sermō	sermōnēs

Derived terms

• sermōcinor
• lupus in sermōne

Descendants

• → Catalan: sermó
• → Italian: sermone
• → Middle Irish: sermóin
  • Irish: seanmóir
  • Manx: sharmane
  • Scottish Gaelic: searmon
• → Old French: sermon
  • Anglo-Norman: sermun
    • → Middle English: sermoun, sermon, sermun, sarmoun, sarmoune, sermown, sermond, sermone
      • English: sermon, sarmon (dialectal)
      • Scots: sermon
  • Bourguignon: sarmon
  • French: sermon
  • Walloon: siermon
• → Old Galician-Portuguese: sermon
  • Portuguese: sermão
• → Sicilian: sirmuni
• → Spanish: sermón

References

• “sermo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “sermo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• sermo 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)
• sermo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[3], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • report says; people say: rumor, fama, sermo est or manat
    
  • to be a subject for gossip: in sermonem hominum venire
    
  • pathetic address; emotional language: contentio (opp. sermo) (Off. 2. 48)
    
  • to adopt the language of everyday life: accedere ad cotidiani sermonis genus
    
  • a mistake, solecism: vitium orationis, sermonis or simply vitium
    
  • native tongue; vernacular: sermo patrius (Fin. 1. 2. 4)
    
  • to usage of language: consuetudo sermonis, loquendi
    
  • the ordinary usage of language, everyday speech: cotidiani sermonis usus
    
  • the ordinary usage of language, everyday speech: communis sermonis consuetudo
    
  • the ordinary usage of language, everyday speech: sermo familiaris et cotidianus
    
  • the expression is not in accordance with Latin usage: aliquid a consuetudine sermonis latini abhorret, alienum est
    
  • incorrect usage: consuetudo vitiosa et corrupta (opp. pura et incorrupta) sermonis
    
  • pure, correct Latin: incorrupta latini sermonis integritas (Brut. 35. 132)
    
  • good Latin: sermo latinus (opp. sermo parum latinus) (cf. sect. VII. 2., note For the use of adverbs...)
    
  • to translate from Greek into Latin: aliquid e graeco in latinum (sermonem) convertere, vertere, transferre
    
  • to render something into Latin: aliquid (graeca) latine reddere or sermone latino interpretari
    
  • an old proverb which every one knows: proverbium vetustate or sermone tritum (vid. sect. II. 3, note tritus...)
    
  • to enter into conversation with some one: sermonem conferre, instituere, ordiri cum aliquo
    
  • to enter into conversation with some one: se dare in sermonem cum aliquo
    
  • to turn the conversation on to a certain subject: sermonem inferre de aliqua re
    
  • to talk of a subject which was then the common topic of conversation: in eum sermonem incidere, qui tum fere multis erat in ore
    
  • the conversation turned on..: sermo incidit de aliqua re
    
  • to begin a conversation: in sermonem ingredi
    
  • the conversation began with..: sermo ortus est ab aliqua re
    
  • to turn the conversation to another topic: sermonem alio transferre
    
  • to break off in the middle of the conversation: medium sermonem abrumpere (Verg. Aen. 4. 388)
    
  • to prolong a conversation far into the night: sermonem producere in multam noctem (Rep. 6. 10. 10)
    
  • to converse, talk with a person on a subject: sermonem habere cum aliquo de aliqua re (De Am. 1. 3)
    
  • the conversation began in this way: hinc sermo ductus est
    
  • the conversation began in this way: sermo inductus a tali exordio
    
  • a long conversation: multus sermo
    
  • conversational language: sermo cotidianus, or simply sermo
    
• sermo in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[4], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “sermo”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly

Anagrams

• mōrēs