binus

Forms

bīnus (feminine bīna, neuter bīnum); first/second-declension numeral^[1] It is chiefly used in the plural, bīnī, bīnae, bīna; the singular occurs in Lucretius and Ovid.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *dwiznos, formed from *dwis (“twice”), the source of bis.^[1][2] De Vaan derives ⟨bīnī⟩ from ⟨*dwis-no-⟩, which presupposes an older ⟨*dwi-no-⟩; he compares Proto-Germanic *twinaz in Old High German zwinal (“twin”) and the Old Norse tvennr (“twofold”) type.^[3] ⟨bis⟩ goes back to Proto-Indo-European *dwis (“twice”), cognate with Ancient Greek δίς (dís) and Sanskrit द्विस् (dvís).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus, Poenulus: bīnae singulīs quae datae nōbīs ancillae, “we who were given two maids each”.^[2][3]

Semantic evolution

As a distributive numeral it means two to each person or group, or two at each time (Plautus saves himself two loaves a day).^[2] It then simply means two, a pair, especially of things that go together (Plautus' “two oxen” in a purse), and is used with nouns that have only a plural, as in bīna castra, “two camps”.^[2][4] In Lucretius the singular means double, twofold.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus in the sense “two each”.^[2][5]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius in the sense “double”.^[2][5]

Meanings

Numeral

1. (plural) Two each, two at a time.^[2][1]
2. (plural) Two, a pair.^[2][1]
3. (of things in a pair) The two, both.^[2]
4. Double, twofold.^[2][1]

Word family

• bīnārius
• bīniō
• combīnō
• binō

Related words

• bis
• duo
• English binary

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de