Etymologically
Log in

inane

This is the current revision of this entry, as edited by bogdan on 18 October 2026 at 23:44. This address is a permanent link to this version.
Changes in this edit History

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪˈnaː.nɛ][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [iˈnaː.ne][1]

Forms

ināne n (genitive inānis); third declension[1]

Etymology

It is the neuter of inānis (“empty”), used as a noun.[2][1] De Vaan finds no certain etymology for ⟨inānis⟩, and notes that “empty, lacking” is recorded before “hollow”.[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Lucretius it is the void of Epicurean physics: namque est in rēbus ināne, “for there is void in things”.[2]

Semantic evolution

In philosophy it is space empty of matter: Cicero reports Epicurus' atoms moving through the infinite void, where there is no top or bottom.[2] In poetry it is an empty expanse, especially the sky: Virgil's stone rolls through the void, and Ovid's arrow sounds through it.[2] Livy has a hollow inside a mine, and Seneca empty places in the earth.[2] In the plural it is empty or illusory things, as Cicero's empty show of nobility and Horace's poet chasing clouds and empty air.[2]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of the void.[2][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the void and of vanities.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of the empty sky.[2][4]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy of a hollow in a mine.[2][4]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Empty space, the void; the sky.[2][1]
  2. An empty part, a hollow.[2]
  3. (plural) Empty things, vanities.[2][1]

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts inānis, empty of what once filled it, with vacuus, empty but able to be filled; used as nouns, ināne is a nothing, vacuum a vacancy.[5]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ 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
  3. ^ de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  4. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper