mensis

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmẽː.sɪs]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmɛn.sis]^[1]

Forms

mēnsis m (genitive mēnsis); third declension^[1] The genitive plural is mensum or mensium.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *mēns- (“month, moon”), inherited from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁-n-s- (“moon, month”), probably from the root *meh₁- (“to measure”), the moon being the measure of time.^[4][1] Latin extended the old s-stem into an i-stem.^[4][1]

Cognate with Umbrian menzne (“moon”),^[4] Old Irish mí (“month”), Sanskrit मास् (mā́s-, “moon, month”), Ancient Greek μήν (mḗn, “month”), Lithuanian mė́nuo (“moon”), Gothic 𐌼𐌴𐌽𐌰 (mena, “moon”) and English month.^[4][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found from Plautus onwards,^[4][5] whose Amphitruo foretells a boy who “will be born in the tenth month”.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It meant a lunar month, and Cicero says months are so named because they measure out spaces of time.^[2] It was also a calendar month, as when the playwright Atta says the year was meant to begin with March, and any period of a month, as in Terence's “he has been gone three months”.^[2]

In the plural it also meant menstruation, as in Pliny and Tacitus.^[2][6] It survives as Italian mese, French mois, Spanish mes and Portuguese mês.^[1] English menstrual comes from its derivative menstruus “monthly”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it for a month of pregnancy.^[2][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it for a period of months.^[2][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero explains the name of the months.^[2][5]
• 23/24–79 AD – Pliny the Elder uses it for menstruation.^[2][5]
• late 14th century – English menstrual is first recorded.^[7]

Meanings

Noun

1. A month (lunar or calendar).^[2][3]
2. A period of a month.^[2]
3. (usually plural) Menstruation.^[2][6]

Word family

• intermēstris
• mēnstruus
• mēnsuālis
• mensurnus
• quadrimenstruus
• sēmēnstris
• decemmestris
• septemmestris

Related words

• mētior
• English menstrual
• English month

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. ^ a b Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d e 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 e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ a b Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com