sedecim

Forms

sēdecim (indeclinable)^[1] It is also written sexdecim.^[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin sex (“six”) + decem (“ten”).^[2][3][1] De Vaan explains the long /ē/ by the voicing and loss of /ks/ before /d/, as in sēnī.^[4] He traces sex to Proto-Italic *seks and Proto-Indo-European *(s)weks (“six”), and compares Sanskrit षोडश (ṣóḍaśa, “sixteen”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, and Lewis & Short cite his Rudens.^[4][3][5] Köbler dates it from Terence.^[5]

Semantic evolution

It is the plain numeral sixteen, in Plautus, Terence, Caesar, Livy and Pliny the Elder.^[3] Livy, Columella and Nepos also have the form ⟨sexdecim⟩, and Livy writes it separately as ⟨decem et sex⟩.^[3][2]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus uses it.^[3][4][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence uses it.^[3][5]
• c. 50 BC – Caesar uses it.^[3][5]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has both sedecim and sexdecim.^[3][5]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Sixteen.^[2][3][1][6]

Word family

• sedecennis

Related words

• sex
• decem

References

1. ^ a b c d e 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 f g h i j Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ 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
5. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson