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hinnitus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word hinnitus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
Lucilius (c. 180–102 BC)
Ultimate origin
Latin (hinniō)

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [hɪnˈniː.tʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [inˈniː.tus][1]

Forms

hinnītus m (genitive hinnītūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin hinniō (“to neigh”) + -tus, an action noun.[2][3][1] The verb is imitative.[1] De Vaan counts it among the verbs of sound in ⟨-īre⟩, with glōciō (“to cluck”) and grundiō (“to grunt”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

The earliest example is Lucilius' quantum hinnītum! “what a neighing!”, used of sounds made by people.[5][6]

Semantic evolution

It is the usual word for the neighing of horses in Cicero, Lucretius, Virgil and Horace.[7][6] The plural is used from Ovid on.[3][7] The grammarians cite it as a word named from its own sound.[3]

In the Vulgate it is also used of human sounds, in Jeremiah.[6]

Timeline

  • c. 180–102 BC – Lucilius uses it of human sounds.[5][6][8]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it.[7][8]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero tells of a neigh heard suddenly.[7][6][8]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid uses the plural.[3][8]
  • 390–406 AD – The Vulgate uses it in Job and Jeremiah.[3][6][8]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Neighing, the cry of a horse.[2][7]
  2. (figurative) A sound made by people likened to neighing.[6]
  • hinniō

Usage notes

In Job 39:19 the Vulgate has circumdabis collō equī hinnītum?, a mistranslation of a Hebrew word that means trembling or terror.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  5. ^ a b Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  6. ^ a b c d e f g Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
  7. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  8. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
Cite this entry

“Hinnitus.” Etymologically, 20 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/hinnitus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·