Etymologically
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novies

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Forms

noviēs (not comparable)[1] It is also spelled noviēns,[2][3] and Wiktionary also lists nōniēs and nōniēns.[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin novem (“nine”) + -iēs.[1][2][3] The numeral goes back to Proto-Indo-European *h₁néwn̥ through Proto-Italic *nown̥.[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler and Lewis & Short record it first in Varro,[4][2] whose treatise on farming has ter novies, “three times nine times”.[2]

Semantic evolution

It means nine times.[2][3][5] Virgil writes of the Styx that flows round nine times (noviens Styx interfusa), and Seneca has novem novies, “nine times nine”;[2][5] Ovid also uses it, and Ausonius has novies deni, “nine times ten”.[3]

It stayed in use in medieval Latin: Bede uses it in reckoning the tides, Domesday Book in a measure of meadow land, and William of Malmesbury of a king who fought nine times in one year.[6] The early medieval law codes have it too,[4] and it is in Ecclesiastical Latin.[7]

Timeline

  • 116–27 BC – Varro writes ter novies.[2][4]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil has noviens Styx interfusa.[2][5][4]
  • 4 BC–65 AD – Seneca writes novem novies.[2][4]
  • c. 310–394 AD – Ausonius has novies deni.[3][4]
  • Middle Ages – Bede, Domesday Book and William of Malmesbury use it.[6]

Meanings

Adverb

  1. Nine times.[2][3][7][1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
  4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  5. ^ a b c Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
  6. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson