nemus, nemoris, n. – wood, grove
According to Lewis & Short’s Latin Dictionary, nemus means “a wood with open glades and meadows for cattle, a wood with much pasture-land, a grove” and is the 1232nd most frequent word. The word is often used in poetry to describe or represent a wide variety of natural things. Nemus can also mean “a wood consecrated to a deity” or sacred grove and especially the grove of Diana at Aricia (Glare and Stray). This is probably the most famous use of the word nemus. Often described in poetry and myths, this is the most famous worship place for Diana Nemorensis as Diana of the grove. The grove on the shores of Lake Nemi at Aricia, about eleven miles outside of Rome. Lake Nemi was also known as the mirror of Diana because it reflected the moon very clearly and sustained the wildlife in the area (Diana). There are many myths about and surrounding this grove, where it is often referred to as nemus.
In the Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages, I read that this meaning “forest, (holy) clearance” is shared by Greek, Celtic, and Italic because it originates from the words for the sacrifice and the place of sacrifice. In Quotation 1, Horace himself uses nemus in its traditional sense in Book 3 of Odes, number 17 Aeli vetusto nobilis ab Lamo (Prepare for Storms Tomorrow). In contrast, in Quotation 2, nemus refers to the sacred grove of Diana at Aricia. Cicero writes to Atticus about the sacred grove because that is where Ceaser had a villa. The two images are of Lake Nemi and the Grove of Diana; the first is an 18th-century painting by John Roberts Cozens and the second is an image fo the temple of Diana in Nemi.
Quotation 1:
“late tyrannus, – cras foliis nemus
multis et alga litus inutili
demissa tempestas ab Euro
sternet, aquae nisi fallit augur”
Hor. C. 3, 17, 9 (Horace Carmina Book 3 Part 17 Line 9)
Quotation 2:
“ecce autem de traverso L. Caesar ut veniam ad se rogat in nemus aut scribam quo se venire velim; Bruto enim placere se a me conveniri.”
Cic. Att. 15, 4, 5 (Cicero, letters to Atticus)
Resources:
Diana, Rachel A. “Diana Nemorensis.” The Phases of Diana, commons.mtholyoke.edu/arth310rdiana/diana-nemorensis-2/.
Glare, P. G. W., and Stray, Christopher. Oxford Latin dictionary. 2nd ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012. Print.
“Nemus.” Logeion.uchicago.edu. Date of access 21 Feb. 2020, logeion.uchicago.edu/nemus.
Vaan, Michiel Arnoud Cor de. Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the Other Italic Languages. Leiden ; Brill, 2008. Print.
