poena

Pronunciation

• IPA (Classical): [ˈpoe̯.na]^[1]
• IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈpɛː.na]^[1]

Forms

poena f (genitive poenae); first declension^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Ancient Greek ποινή (poinḗ, “penalty, blood money”), borrowed very early, since it occurs in the Twelve Tables.^[2][1][3] Köbler compares Proto-Indo-European *kʷey- (“to pay heed, punish”).^[4] Isidore says it is named because it punishes.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is the Twelve Tables, which he dates about 450 BC; they fix twenty-five asses as the penalty for an injury.^[4][6]

Semantic evolution

It meant the penalty paid for an offence, punishment, and poenās dare to pay the penalty, as in Ennius; in Varro Poena is a goddess.^[2][6] Gaffiot says it was first the ransom paid for a killing.^[7] In Cicero it meant satisfaction for an injury, revenge, and the unpleasant consequence of an action.^[2] In Ulpian it meant a legal forfeit.^[2]

In Ecclesiastical Latin it meant pain, fine, punishment, penalty, and in canon law the deprivation of some good to correct a delinquent.^[8] Medieval Latin used it for suffering, affliction, and also for a rent.^[9] It survives in French peine and Italian and Spanish pena, and Old French peine gave English pain in the late 13th century, first of Christ's agony.^[1][10]

Timeline

• c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables use it of a fine.^[4][6]
• 204–169 BC – Ennius uses poenās dare.^[2][4]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of revenge.^[2][4]
• before 223 AD – Ulpian uses it of a forfeit.^[2][4]
• late 13th century – English pain is recorded.^[10]

Meanings

Noun

1. A penalty, punishment, poenās dare, to pay the penalty.^[2]
2. Satisfaction for an injury, revenge.^[2]
3. (law) A forfeit.^[2]
4. An unpleasant consequence.^[2]
5. (Medieval Latin) Suffering, affliction.^[9]

Word family

• impūnis
• poenālis
• poenārius
• pūniō

Related words

• paeniteō
• English pain
• English penal

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 k Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ Thesaurus linguae Latinae (1900–), Leipzig: Teubner; Berlin: De Gruyter; open-access ed., Munich: Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften
4. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
5. ^ Isidore of Seville, Etymologiarum sive Originum libri XX, ed. W. M. Lindsay (Oxford, 1911).
6. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Gaffiot, Félix (2016), Dictionnaire latin-français, new ed. by Gérard Gréco et al. (Gaffiot 2016), online ed.
8. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
9. ^ a b Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
10. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com