Etymologically
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decimus

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈdɛ.kɪ.mʊs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈdɛː.t͡ʃi.mus][1]

Forms

decimus (feminine decima, neuter decimum); first/second-declension numeral[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *dekamo- (“tenth”), the ordinal of decem “ten”, from Proto-Indo-European *deḱm (“ten”).[2][1][3] Lewis & Short describe it as decem with a superlative ending.[4] A spelling decumus prevailed in later legal language.[4]

Compare Sanskrit दशम (daśamá, “tenth”) and Old Irish dechmad (“tenth”).[3][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus uses it of the tenth month and of a tenth part, the tithe.[4][6] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[7]

Semantic evolution

It meant tenth, often counted inclusively, as the tenth legion in Caesar and the tenth hour in Cicero.[3][8] Decimus quisque was every tenth man.[8] As a noun decima was a tithe.[6][7] Decimus was also a Roman first name.[3][4]

In medieval Latin it also meant a tithe payment and a fee of ten per cent.[7] English dime, “a tenth, tithe”, came through Old French in the late 14th century and was chosen in 1786 for the United States coin.[9]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of the tenth month and of a tithe.[4][6][7]
  • c. 50 BC – Caesar writes of the tenth legion.[4][7]
  • late 14th century – English dime is recorded.[9]
  • 1801 – English deci- is taken from it through French.[9]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Tenth.[3][1]
  2. decimus quisque: every tenth one.[8]
  3. (feminine noun, decima) A tenth part, a tithe.[6][7]

Word family

  • decimānus
  • decima
  • decimō
  • octāvusdecimus
  • quindecimus

Usage notes

Decimus, abbreviated D., was a Roman first name, at first for a tenth-born son.[3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  7. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  8. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  9. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com