annus
Pronunciation
Forms
annus m (genitive annī); second declension[1]
Etymology
It is inherited from Proto-Italic *atno- (“year”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₂et-no-, from a root meaning “to go, wander”, so that the year was “the one that goes round”.[2][1][3] It replaced the inherited word for “year”, Proto-Indo-European *wétos.[1]
Cognate with Oscan akenei (“in the year”), Umbrian acnu (“years”)[2][3] and Gothic 𐌰𐍄𐌰𐌸𐌽𐌹 (ataþni, “year”).[3][1]
Ancient grammarians connected it with ānus (“ring”): Varro said the year was so named because it returns on itself like a ring, and Isidore repeats the idea.[4][5]
Earliest recorded meaning
De Vaan finds it from Naevius onwards.[2][6] Ennius writes that someone “lay hidden many years”.[3]
Semantic evolution
It was the natural year of the sun's course and a period of twelve months, as well as the civil year, which began on 1 January or 1 March.[3] It meant a year of office, and annus meus was the year in which the law let a man stand for an office.[3][7] It gave people's ages (annos natus, “years old”) and the dates of events.[3]
Poets used it for the season and for the year's harvest, as when Lucan says Libya “bore a great year” after heavy rain.[3][7] In the Middle Ages dates were given by the regnal year, as in agno regnante Philippo rege in a Catalan charter,[8] and English medieval law spoke of possession for “a year and a day”.[9] It survives in all the Romance languages, as Sardinian annu, Romanian an, Italian anno and French an.[6][1]
Timeline
- c. 235–200 BC – Naevius uses it.[2][10]
- 204–169 BC – Ennius uses it for a span of years.[3][10]
- 81–43 BC – Cicero uses annus meus for the legal year of candidacy.[7][10]
- 941 – A Catalan charter spells it agno.[8]
- c. 1150 – A London custom grants land held unchallenged for a year and a day.[9]
Meanings
Noun
- A year, the course of the sun.[3][4]
- A period of twelve months.[3]
- A civil or calendar year.[3]
- A year of office, annus meus the year in which one may lawfully stand for office.[3][7]
- A year of age, annos natus years old.[3]
- (poetic) A season; the year's harvest.[3][7]
Word family
- annālis
- annarius
- anniculus
- annifer
- anniversārius
- annō
- annōna
- annōsus
- annōtinus
- annuus
- perennis
- quadriennis
Related words
- English annual
- English anniversary
- English millennium
Usage notes
It is a different word from ānus “ring; anus”, with a long a,[11] though Varro linked the two.[4]
References
- ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
- ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
- ^ a b c d e Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
- ^ a b Glossarium Mediae Latinitatis Cataloniae (1960–; online ed. 2025), Barcelona: CSIC / Institució Milà i Fontanals, gmlc.imf.csic.es
- ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
- ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
- ^ Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn