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innumerus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word innumerus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
96–55 BC, Lucretius
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*nem-e/os-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin numerus
French nombre
French nombreux
Latin numerosus
English numerous
Latin numerose
Latin innumerus

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɪnˈnʊ.mɛ.rʊs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [inˈnuː.me.rus][1]

Forms

innumerus (feminine innumera, neuter innumerum); first/second-declension adjective[1] Late Latin also has a third-declension form innumeris, -e.[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin in- (“not”) + numerus (“number”), with adjectival -us.[3][2][1] The TLL compares innumerābilis.[2] De Vaan traces numerus to Proto-Italic *nomeso- and Proto-Indo-European *nem-e/os- (“apportioning”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Lucretius,[5] who speaks of seeds flying about in countless number.[3][6]

Semantic evolution

It means that cannot be numbered, countless, with plurals and collective nouns, as Virgil's countless pyres built by the Latins and Ovid's earth that brought forth countless species.[3] Döderlein calls it a poetic and choice word, beside the ordinary prose innumerābilis.[7] Lewis & Short note that it is poetic and post-Augustan; in Cicero it is a false reading.[6]

Timeline

  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius of a countless number of seeds.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of countless pyres.[3][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of countless species.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Countless, innumerable, numberless.[3][6][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  3. ^ a b c d e f g Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  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 c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
Cite this entry

“Innumerus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/innumerus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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