Etymologically
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minacia

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [mɪˈnaː.ki.a][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [miˈnaː.t͡ʃi.a][1]

Forms

minācia f (genitive mināciae); first declension[1] Classical Latin has only the plural mināciae.[2][3] The singular is found in the Old Latin Bible (Habakkuk 3:12).[4]

Etymology

It is from Latin mināx (“threatening”) + -ia.[2][1][5] Lewis & Short connect it directly with minae (“threats”).[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus (c. 250–184 BC) uses the plural in a pun on minae “threats” and minae “sums of money”: meliust te minis certare mecum quam minaciis, “you had better fight me with minae than with menaces”.[3][4][2]

Semantic evolution

The OLD also reads it in two other places in Plautus;[2] Ritschl rejected these readings and Haupt and Müller defended them,[4] while Lewis & Short accept only minae there.[3] Wiktionary records it in Plautus and in Arnobius the Younger.[1]

The singular, in Late Latin “a threat”,[1] gave Old French menace and English menace (about 1300), and Spanish amenaza;[6] Conte derives Italian minaccia from the plural.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus puns on minae and mināciae.[2][3][5]
  • after 220 AD – The Old Latin Bible has the singular.[4][5]
  • c. 1300 – English menace, from Old French.[6]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A threat, menace; in Classical Latin only in the plural, “threats”.[2][3][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  7. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier