immanis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ɪmˈmaː.nɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [imˈmaː.nis]^[1]

Forms

immānis (neuter immāne, comparative immānior, superlative immānissimus); third-declension two-termination adjective^[1]

Etymology

It is from in- (“not”) and Old Latin mānis (“good”), related to māne “in the morning” and mānēs “the spirits of the dead”, from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂- (“timely, good”).^[2][1][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

The OLD's first citation is Plautus, of savagery.^[2] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It meant savage, brutal, of persons and of character or actions, as in Cicero, then frightful, often with the idea of great size.^[2] It came to mean enormous, vast, tremendous, as Caesar's men of gigantic stature and Cicero's huge cups, very great in number or value, as in Varro, and of force or abstract things immense, immāne quantum meant “a tremendous amount”, as in Sallust.^[2][5] Döderlein groups it with ingēns and vastus as overwhelming greatness, opposed to the becoming greatness of magnus.^[6]

In Medieval Latin it meant savage, brutal, of animals, people and emotions.^[7] Italian immane is a borrowing.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it of savagery.^[2][4]
• 96–55 BC – Lucretius uses it of enormous size.^[2][4]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it of gigantic stature.^[5][4]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Savage, brutal.^[2]
2. Frightful, monstrous.^[2]
3. Enormous, vast, immense.^[2]
4. Very great, immāne quantum, a tremendous amount.^[2]

Word family

• immānitās

Related words

• mānēs
• māne
• ingēns
• vastus

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
6. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
7. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press