This base type originates from
Lat. ŭnctum ‘grease, ointment’ and correlates with the past participle of the
Lat. verb
ŭngere ‘to grease’. Due to nominalization, the meaning ‘the fat’ emerged. At the same time, it meant ‘ointment’ from the 2nd century on. Both meanings can still be found today. ‘Ointment’ is preserved in
Ita. unguento, Piedmontese
oit (cf.
Treccani under
unguento). A further component of this base is
Ron. unt or Friulan
ont with the meaning ‘Butter’ (cf.
FEW 14, 29 under
unctum; cf.
REW 9057 under
unctum. According to
Kluge (
2012: 437), the base type
ancho appears to share the same
Ine. root (*
ongw en- ‛ointment, grease, butter’) with the base type
ŭnctum.
Romani, Luigi: Vocabolario Treccani
LinkWartburg, Walter (1922-1967): Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch. Eine Darstellung des galloromanischen Sprachschatzes , Basel, vol. 20, Zbinden
LinkMeyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1935): Romanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, 3., vollst. neubearb. Aufl., Heidelberg, Winter
LinkSeebold, Elmar (2012): Kluge. Etymologisches Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache, Berlin, DeGruyter
Latein (ISO 639-3)
Italienisch (ISO 639-3)
Rumänisch (ISO 639-3)
Romanisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch
Indogermanisch (ISO 639-3)