minae

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈmɪ.nae̯]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈmiː.ne]^[1]

Forms

minae f pl (genitive minārum); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *men-ā- (“projecting part”), from the root Proto-Indo-European *men- (“to stick out, project”), which survives in ēmineō “to stand out”.^[2][1] The sense went from “projecting part” to “threat”, and the verb minor “to threaten” was formed from it.^[2] The OLD and Lewis and Short connect mōns “mountain” and mentum “chin”.^[3][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, whose character says he cares no more for great threats than for his maid.^[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It meant threats, menaces, as Cicero's threats of death and exile, and by transfer warning signs or portents, as Cicero asks where the threats of the earlier entrails had gone.^[3][6] In poetry it kept the old sense, the projecting points or pinnacles of walls, as Virgil's minae mūrōrum.^[4][2]

Its descendants include Italian mena and Spanish almena.^[1]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus speaks of great threats.^[3][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of threats of death and exile.^[6][5]
• 70–19 BC – Virgil speaks of the pinnacles of walls.^[4][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. (plural) Threats, menaces.^[3]
2. Warning signs, portents.^[3]
3. (poetic) The projecting points of walls, pinnacles.^[4]

Word family

• minōrō
• minor

Related words

• mentum
• mōns
• ēmineō
• English menace

References

1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
3. ^ a b c d e f Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d 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.