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239. Nouns denoting acts, or means and results of acts, are formed from roots or verb-stems by the use of the suffixes—

-men, N.; -mentum, N.; -mōnium, N.; -mōnia, F.

ag-men, line of march, band; AG, root of agere, to lead.
regi-men, rule; regi-mentum, rule; regi- (rege-), stem of regere, to direct.
certā-men, contest, battle; certā-, stem of certāre, to contend.

So

colu-men, pillar; -men, movement; -men, name; flū-men, stream.
testi-mōnium, testimony; testārī, to witness.
queri-mōnia, complaint; querī, to complain.

-mōnium and -mōnia are also used as secondary, forming nouns from other nouns and from adjectives: as, sāncti-mōnia, sanctity (sānctus, holy); mātrimōnium, marriage (māter, mother.

Note.--Of these endings, -men is primary (cf. § 234. 2.14); -mentum is a compound of men- and to-, and appears for the most part later in the language than -men: as, mōmen, movement (Lucr.); mōmentum (later). So elementum is a development from L-M-N-a, l-m-n's (letters of the alphabet), changed to elementa along with other nouns in -men. -mōnium and -mōnia were originally compound secondary suffixes formed from mōn- (a by-form of men-), which was early associated with mo-. Thus almus

(stem almo-), fostering; Almōn, a river near Rome; alimōnia, support. But the last was formed directly from alō when -mōnia had become established as a supposed primary suffix.

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