Etymologically
Log in

bipennis

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 20 October 2026 at 13:23. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [bɪˈpɛn.nɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [biˈpɛn.nis][1]

Forms

bipennis (neuter bipenne); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] It is also spelled bipinnis.[2][3]

Etymology

It is a compound of bi- (“two”) and penna (“feather, wing”) with the adjective ending ⟨-is⟩;[2][1] the noun stands for a two-edged axe, with secūris (“axe”) understood.[1][3] The TLL thinks two adjectives were confused, one made from penna "wing", the other from pinna, used in the sense "sharp".[4] De Vaan traces penna to Proto-Italic *petnā- and Proto-Indo-European *pet-n-h₂- (“wing, feather”), with pinna as a dialect form of it.[5] Ancient writers explained the name of the axe from an old word for "sharp": Quintilian derived it from the word ⟨pinna⟩ in the sense "sharp", Isidore from ⟨pennum⟩, which he says the ancients used for "sharp".[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan finds it first in Varro;[5] in his Menippean Satires it is used both of feathers and of a two-bladed iron axe carried on the shoulder.[3][2]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it is rare: having two wings, as of insects in Pliny the Elder,[2][3] and, of an axe, having two edges, as Varro's axe and Virgil's two-edged iron.[2][3] Much more often it is a noun, a two-edged axe, mostly in poetry:[3] Virgil has someone seize a hard axe and break through the threshold, and Camilla takes up a strong one;[3][4] Horace has a holm-oak lopped by hard axes.[3] The TLL notes it as the weapon of the Amazons in particular.[4] Lewis & Short note that only some cases are found.[3] In Medieval Latin it is a two-edged sword.[6]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro of feathers and a two-edged axe.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of the two-edged battle-axe.[3]
  • c. 35–95/96 AD – Quintilian derives it from pinna “sharp”.[3]
  • c. 560–636 AD – Isidore explains it from pennum “sharp”.[3]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Having two wings.[2][3][1]
  2. (of an axe) Having two blades, two-edged.[2][3][1]

Noun

  1. A two-edged axe, a battle-axe.[2][3][1]
  2. (Medieval Latin) A two-edged sword.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill