phaenomenon

Forms

phaenomenon n (genitive phaenomenī); second declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek φαινόμενον (phainómenon, “appearance, that which appears”),^[1][2][3] the neuter present participle of φαίνω (phaínō, “to bring to light, show”).^[3] Köbler compares Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- (“to shine”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

In Lactantius the plural phaenomena means appearances in the sky.^[2][4][5]

Semantic evolution

Phaenomena was the title of a poem by Aratus on the heavens,^[2][4] which Cicero and others translated into Latin.^[5] Around 400 AD the medical writer Theodorus Priscianus used the singular for an appearance in general, or a symptom.^[2][6][5][3] Ecclesiastical Latin has it in the general sense “phenomenon”.^[7]

Timeline

• c. 250–317 AD – Lactantius uses the plural for appearances in the sky.^[2][5][3]
• c. 400 AD – Theodorus Priscianus uses it for an appearance or symptom.^[6][5][3]

Meanings

Noun

1. (Late Latin) An appearance; in medicine, a symptom.^[2][6][5]
2. (plural) Appearances in the sky, astronomical phenomena.^[2][4][6]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A phenomenon.^[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 Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
3. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
4. ^ a b c Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
5. ^ a b c d e f Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ a b c d Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson