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MEMENTO

 - 3 dictionary results

me⋅men⋅to

[muh-men-toh]
–noun, plural -tos, -toes.
1. an object or item that serves to remind one of a person, past event, etc.; keepsake; souvenir.
2. anything serving as a reminder or warning.
3. (initial capital letter, italics) Roman Catholic Church. either of two prayers in the canon of the Mass, one for persons living and the other for persons dead.

Origin:
1350–1400; ME < L mementō, impv. of meminisse to remember


Memento is sometimes spelled momento, perhaps by association with moment. The word is actually related to remember. One of its earliest meanings was “something that serves to warn.” The meaning “souvenir” is a recent development: The stone animal carvings are mementos of our trip to Victoria. Momento is considered by many to be a misspelling, but it occurs so frequently in edited writing that some regard it as a variant spelling rather than an error.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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me·men·to   (mə-měn'tō)   
n.   pl. me·men·tos or me·men·toes
A reminder of the past; a keepsake.

[Middle English, commemoration of the living or the dead in the Canon of the Mass, from Latin mementō, imperative of meminisse, to remember; see men-1 in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

memento 
1401, "Psalm cxxxi in the Canon of the Mass" (which begins with the L. word Memento and in which the dead are commemorated), from L. memento "remember," imperative of meminisse "to remember," a reduplicated form, related to mens "mind." Meaning "reminder, warning" is from 1582; sense of "keepsake" is first recorded 1768. Memento mori "reminder of death" (1592) is from L., lit. "remember that you must die."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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