Boihaemum

Latin

Alternative forms

• Boiohaemum, Boihemum, Boiemum, Boehemum, Boiohemum

Etymology

Directly or via Ancient Greek Βουίαιμον (Bouíaimon), rendering Proto-Germanic *baiaz (“one of the Boii”) + *haimaz (“home”), designating the area abandoned by the Boii c. 60 BCE and settled by the Germanic Marcomanni shortly thereafter, now German Böhmen. The tribal name, Latin Bo(i)ī, is probably Gaulish *bouios (“cattle owner”), a relative adjective from Proto-Celtic *bāus (“ox, cow”), which continues Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws (“cattle”), or less likely *bʰeyh₂- (“to strike, hit”). Related to Bavaria.

First attested in Velleius (19 BC – c. AD 31).

Pronunciation

• Uncertain:
  • (Classical) IPA^(key): /bo.iˈhae̯.mum/, [boiˈ(ɦ)äe̯mʊ̃ˑ]
  • (Classical) IPA^(key): /boi̯ˈi̯ae̯.mum/, [bɔi̯ˈi̯äe̯mʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /boˈje.mum/, [boˈjɛːmum]

Proper noun

Boihaemum n sg (genitive Boihaemī); second declension

1. roughly the present Bohemia (a region of the Czech Republic)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter), singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Boihaemum
Genitive	Boihaemī
Dative	Boihaemō
Accusative	Boihaemum
Ablative	Boihaemō
Vocative	Boihaemum

Synonyms

• Bo(h)ēmī, Boihaemī
• Bo(h)ēmia, Boihaemia

Coordinate terms

• Czechī, Cechī
• Czechia, Cechia
• Moravī
• Moravia

References

• “Boihaemum” in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present

Further reading

• “Boii”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “Boihaemum”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• Boihēmum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.