Etymologically
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mensis

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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
  • 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