The first page begins with a discussion of how the interests of farmers and those who raise livestock are often held to be at odds with one another. The author though sees an underlying commonality of interests. Then we read,
Nor however is there any region, assuming that it produces crops, that isn't helped by the assistance as of men so of beasts; whence also jumenta take their name, from the fact that they assist our labors either by carrying burdens or through plowing.nec tamen ulla regio est, in qua modo frumenta gigantur, quae non, ut hominum, ita armentorum adjumento juvetur. unde etiam jumenta nomen a re traxere, quod nostrum laborem, vel onera subvectando, vel arando juvarent.
I was struct by a couple of things in the passage
1. the usage of the word "modo" which I intuited (didn't consult anything) to mean something like "assuming" as in "in which assuming crops are produced"; am I correct?
2. the word "re" seems to be linked to the clause that follows but also perhaps to "unde". it seemed like a very nifty construction, and one that I hadn't seen or perhaps not recognized before: herds (jumenta) take their name from the fact (re) that (quod).
3. and finally, what was most interesting, the derivation itself; the author derives the word jumentum (herd) from the fact that cattle are a help (adjumentum) in bearing burdens and in plowing. Now then, how can I know whether this a true or a folk etymology. Is there some online reference - because that's really the only the only kind I use, principally WORDS and GLOSSA. This third point, was the reason I posted. How can we check etymologies of latin words? You would think that such a reference would be both basic and extremely useful.
Excuse me for not writing in Latin; recently I have been doing quite a bit of that on both the Grex and Schola.