Etymologically
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cinis

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈkɪ.nɪs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈt͡ʃiː.nis][1]

Forms

cinis m or f (genitive cineris); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *kenis- (“ashes”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ken(H)-i- (“residue of fire, dust”).[2][1] Cognate with Ancient Greek κόνις (kónis, “dust, ashes”) and Tocharian B kentse (“dust”).[2][3][4] The /i/ of the first syllable comes from *e by assimilation, as in similis.[2] Pokorny connected it with *kneh₂- “to rub”, which de Vaan finds not compelling.[2][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character threatens to break a pot of ashes over someone's head.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant ashes, the residue of a fire, and embers, including the hot embers used for cooking.[3] Ashes stood for destruction by fire, as a city reduced to ashes, and for the body after death, as the ashes of the dead in an urn.[3][6] It is masculine, but feminine in Calvus, Catullus, Lucretius and Apuleius.[3] Isidore of Seville uses it of burning stubble to dry out a field.[7]

In Medieval Latin cinerēs “the Ashes” was Ash Wednesday.[8] It survives in Italian cenere and French cendre.[1] English cinerary and English incinerate come from its stem ciner-.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of a pot of ashes.[3][5]
  • 81/79–52/50 BC – Catullus uses it in the feminine of a dead brother's ashes.[3][5]
  • 1550s – English incinerate is recorded.[9]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Ashes, the residue of a fire.[3]
  2. Embers.[3]
  3. Ashes as the result of destruction by fire.[3]
  4. The ashes of the dead.[3]
  5. (Medieval Latin, plural) Ash Wednesday.[8]
  • cinefactus
  • cinerāceus
  • cinerārius
  • cinerēscō
  • cinereus
  • cinericius
  • cinerōsus
  • ciniflō
  • concinerātus
  • dēcinerātus
  • English cinerary
  • English incinerate

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
  8. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com