Etymologically
Log in

dens

Etymology and origin of the Latin word dens

History

Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈdẽːs][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈdɛns][1]

Forms

dēns m (genitive dentis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *dent-, inherited from Proto-Indo-European *h₃d-n̥t- (“tooth”).[2] The initial laryngeal rests on Greek and Armenian: Ionic Ancient Greek ὀδών (odṓn) (later ὀδούς (odoús)) and Old Armenian ատամն (atamn) show that Greek o- is original, against the Aeolic form with e- known only from a 12th-century gloss.[2] An Oscan dunte may be the same word, but its meaning is uncertain.[2] Other cognates are Old Irish dét, Sanskrit दन्त् (dánt-), Lithuanian dantìs, Gothic 𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃 (tunþus) and Old High German zand, all "tooth".[2] English tooth belongs here through Old English tōþ.[1] Köbler and Lewis & Short connect it with the verb edō "to eat".[3][4]

Ancient writers derived it from dēmere "to take away" (Cassiodorus), or explained the teeth as dividing the food, though Isidore of Seville also saw the Greek word behind it.[5] DÉRom reconstructs a masculine Proto-Romance */ˈdɛnt-e/, continued in every Romance variety, as in Romanian dinte and Dalmatian diant; where it is feminine, as in French, the change follows the general Proto-Romance tendency to make third-declension nouns feminine.[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

A law of the Twelve Tables (c. 450 BC) mentions a dead person "whose teeth are joined with gold" (cui auro dentes iuncti escunt).[7][4][3]

Semantic evolution

Besides human and animal teeth it named the tusks of the boar and the elephant, and so ivory.[7] Anything shaped like a tooth could be a dēns: the teeth of a comb or rake, the share of a plough, the fluke of an anchor, the blade of a sickle.[7] Figuratively it was the bite of a destructive or spiteful power: Cicero speaks of envious people who "carp with a malicious tooth", and Ovid of the "teeth of age" that spoil all things.[7] Köbler adds the medieval senses "strength" and "bite".[3]

Timeline

  • c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables mention teeth bound with gold.[7][3]
  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has a character laughed at "with white teeth".[7][3]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero describes elephant tusks of enormous size, and the tooth of envy.[7][3]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for the share of a plough and the fluke of an anchor.[7][3]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid writes of the teeth of age.[7][3]
  • c. 1500 – The masculine Romanian dinte is first recorded.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A tooth.[7][4]
  2. A tusk of a boar or elephant; ivory.[7]
  3. A tooth-like part: a tine of a comb or rake, a ploughshare, the fluke of an anchor, a blade.[7]
  4. (figurative) The bite of a destructive or spiteful power, especially envy.[7]
  5. (Medieval Latin) Strength; bite.[3]

Word family

  • ambidens
  • dentāle
  • dentāneus
  • dentārius
  • dentātus
  • dentex
  • denticulus
  • dentiducum
  • dentifrangibulus
  • dentifricium
  • dentilegus
  • dentiō
  • Denter
  • English tooth
  • English dentist

Usage notes

The front teeth were dentēs prīmōrēs, the eye-teeth dentēs canīnī and the back teeth genuīnī or molārēs.[4] The genitive plural is normally dentium, but Varro approved dentum as well.[4][5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  5. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  6. ^ a b Buchi, Éva; Schweickard, Wolfgang, eds. (2008–), Dictionnaire Étymologique Roman (DÉRom), Nancy: ATILF, http://www.atilf.fr/DERom
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press

Related etymologies

  • hospes · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • verbum · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • ignis · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • mors · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • sal · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • rex · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • equus · also from Proto-Indo-European
  • pater · also from Proto-Indo-European
Cite this entry

“Dens.” Etymologically, 10 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/dens. Accessed 11 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·