minaciae

Forms

mināciae f pl (genitive mināciārum); first declension^[1] A singular minacia occurs in the Old Latin Bible.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin mināx (“threatening”) + -ia,^[1][2] and so goes back to minae (“threats”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

It is found only in Plautus,^[3] in a pun in the Truculentus on minae “threats” and minae, the Greek coins: Meliust te minis certare mecum quam minaciis (“you had better contend with me in minas than in menaces”).^[4][2]

Semantic evolution

Two more instances in Plautus, in the Miles Gloriosus and the Rudens, are disputed by editors, some of whom read minae there.^[2][4] The word itself survived in speech: Conte derives Italian minaccia from it.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus plays on it in the Truculentus.^[4][6]

Meanings

Noun

1. Threats, menaces.^[1][4][5]

Related words

• minor¹
• English menace

References

1. ^ a b c Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
2. ^ a b c d Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b 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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de