# mentum
## English
### Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin mentum (“the chin”). Doublet of menton.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛn.təm/
* Rhymes: -ɛntəm

### Noun

mentum (plural menta)
* (anatomy) The chin.
* (malacology) A chin-like projection below the mouth of certain mollusks.
* (entomology) The central part of the labium in insects.
* (botany) A projection in front of the flower in some orchids.

#### Derived terms

* postmentum
* prementum
* submentum

#### Related terms

* mental
* mento-

### References

* “mentum”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* “mentum”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

### Anagrams

* nummet

## Latin

Picture dictionary :
mentum
calvāria
cerebrum
oculus
labium
nāsus
ōs
mentum
māxilla
auris
tempus
collum :

### Etymology

From Proto-Italic *məntom, from Proto-Indo-European *mn̥tós (“protruding”), from *men- (“to project”). Cognate with Proto-Germanic *munþaz.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈmen.tum/, [ˈmɛn̪t̪ʊ̃ˑ]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈmen.tum/, [ˈmɛn̪t̪um]

### Noun

mentum n (genitive mentī); second declension
* (literally) the chin; the chin with the hair that grows on it; the beard
** 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 6.809:nosco crinis incanaque menta regis Romani primam qui legibus urbem fundabit, Curibus paruis et paupere terra missus in imperium magnum.
* (transferred sense, architecture) the projecting part of a cornice casting off the rain, the coping
** c. 15 BCE, Vitruvius, De architectura 4.3.6:Reliqua spatia, quod latiores sint metopae quam triglyphi, pura relinquantur aut numina scalpantur, ad ipsumque mentum coronae incidatur linea quae scotia dicitur.

#### Inflection

Second-declension noun (neuter).

#### Derived terms

* mentāgra
* mentālis (adjective)
* mentīgō
* mentō
* Mentō

#### Descendants

* Vulgar Latin: *mentō, *mentōnem
** Italo-Romance:
*** Italian: mento
*** Sicilian: mentu
** Gallo-Italic:
*** Ligurian: manton, menton
*** Piedmontese: manton, menton
** Gallo-Romance:
*** Old French: menton, mentun
**** French: menton
***** → English: menton
***** → Esperanto: mentono
****** Ido: mentono
***** → Spanish: mentón
** Occitano-Romance:
*** Catalan: mentó
*** Occitan: menton
* → English: mentum (learned)
* → Portuguese: mento (learned)

### Further reading

* “mentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “mentum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* "mentum", 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)
* mentum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. (ambiguous) to see with the mind's eye: oculis mentis videre aliquid (ambiguous) to be of sane mind: mentis compotem esse (ambiguous) to be of sound mind: sanae mentis esse (ambiguous) to obscure the mental vision: mentis quasi luminibus officere (vid. sect. XIII. 6) or animo caliginem offundere (ambiguous) innate ideas: notiones animo (menti) insitae, innatae (ambiguous) to lose one's composure; to be disconcerted: de statu suo or mentis deici (Att. 16. 15) (ambiguous) to lose one's head, be beside oneself: sui (mentis) compotem non esse (ambiguous) enthusiasm: ardor, inflammatio animi, incitatio mentis, mentis vis incitatior