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monitus

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Etymology and origin of the Latin word monitus

Confidence
Established
Formation
Derivation
First attested
81–43 BC, Cicero
Ultimate origin
Proto-Indo-European (*mon-eie-)
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
Latin moneo
Latin commoneo
Latin admoneo
Latin admonitio
Latin admonitus
Latin monumentum
Latin monitio
Latin monitus
Latin praemoneo

Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈmɔ.nɪ.tʊs], [ˈmɔ.nɪ.tuːs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈmɔː.ni.tus], [ˈmɔː.ni.tus][1]

Forms

monitus m (genitive monitūs); fourth declension[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin moneō (“to remind, warn”) + -tus, a fourth-declension action noun.[2][3][1] De Vaan traces moneō to Proto-Italic *moneje- and Proto-Indo-European *mon-eie- (“to make think of, remind”), a causative of the root of mēns (“mind”).[4][1] Cognate with Avestan mānaiia- (“to make think”).[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Cicero,[5] who uses the phrase “by the prompting of fortune” once, in the treatise on divination.[6]

Semantic evolution

It means a reminding, warning or advice, and is mostly poetic, as Ovid's “at the nurse's warning”.[6][2] In particular it is an admonition of the gods given through omens and signs: Virgil has the terrible warnings of the old seers and counsel given in the silent night, and Pliny the Younger speaks of revering the warnings of the gods.[2][6] Servius notes that the dative singular and the plural datives are not used.[3]

Timeline

  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of the prompting of fortune.[6][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil of warnings of seers and divine counsel.[2][5]
  • 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid of a nurse's warning.[6][5]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A reminding, warning, advice; in the singular only in the ablative.[2][6][1]
  2. An admonition of the gods through omens; an omen, prophecy.[6][1]

Usage notes

Monitus is also the perfect passive participle of moneō, “warned, reminded”.[1][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  4. ^ 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
  5. ^ a b c d Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Cite this entry

“Monitus.” Etymologically, 19 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/la/monitus. Accessed 20 Oct. 2026.

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