Etymologically
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octoginta

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ɔk.toːˈɡɪn.taː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ok.toˈd͡ʒin.ta][1]

Forms

octōgintā (indeclinable)[1] Scaevola in the Digest has octāgintā,[2] and Vitruvius octuāgintā.[3]

Etymology

It is from Latin octō (“eight”) + -gintā, formed like trīgintā.[2][4] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *oktōḱomt, from earlier Proto-Indo-European *oḱto(w)-dḱomt (“eight tens”).[1] De Vaan takes octō back to Proto-Italic *oktō and Proto-Indo-European *h₃(e)ḱtéh₃ (“eight”).[5] The numeral is cognate with Ancient Greek ὀγδοήκοντα (ogdoḗkonta, “eighty”), Sanskrit अशीति (aśītí-, “eighty”) and Avestan aštāiti- (“eighty”).[5][1]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus;[6] de Vaan lists it from Cicero.[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the cardinal number eighty, indeclinable.[2][3] Cicero writes of a king who had reigned eighty years.[3] Grammarians list it among the indeclinable numerals in ⟨-a⟩, and poets sometimes shorten the final vowel.[4] Church Latin keeps it as eighty.[7]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses the numeral.[6]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero of a reign of eighty years.[3][5][6]

Meanings

Numeral

  1. Eighty; 80.[2][3][1][7]

Word family

  • octōgēnī
  • octōgēsimus
  • octōgiēns

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ a b Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
  5. ^ 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
  6. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson