Etymologically
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sedecim

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [ˈseː.dɛ.kĩː][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [ˈsɛː.de.t͡ʃim][1]

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

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