Etymologically
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semianimis

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Pronunciation

  • Classical: [seː.miˈa.nɪ.mɪs][1]
  • Ecclesiastical: [se.miˈaː.ni.mis][1]

Forms

sēmianimis (neuter sēmianime); third-declension two-termination adjective[1] Also sēmianimus and sēmanimis.[2][3]

Etymology

It is from Latin sēmi- (“half”) + anima (“breath, life”) + -is, with a second form in ⟨-us⟩.[2][1] De Vaan traces sēmi- to Proto-Indo-European *sēm-i (“in one”), cognate with Ancient Greek ἡμι- (hēmi-, “half”), the meaning having shifted from “in one” to “one of the two” and so to “half”.[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Ennius has it in the Annals, of half-dead eyes that still twitch, a line Servius quotes on Virgil.[3][5]

Semantic evolution

It means half-alive or half-dead, of dying people and animals and their limbs: Virgil has fingers that twitch half-dead, and it is frequent in Livy, Seneca, Curtius and Suetonius.[3][2] Lewis & Short find it mostly in poetry and post-Augustan prose.[3] Some writers stress the life that remains, as Phaedrus of a hare and Lucan.[2] In verse it is scanned as four syllables, and some editions write it sēmanimis.[2][3] The form sēmianimus appears in Lucretius, in Cicero's poetry, in Sallust and in Juvenal.[3] Stelten glosses it “half-dead, half-alive”.[6]

Timeline

  • 204–169 BC – Ennius, of half-dead eyes.[3][5]
  • 96–55 BC – Lucretius has the form sēmianimus.[3][5]
  • 70–19 BC – Virgil, of twitching fingers.[3][5]
  • 59 BC–17 AD – Livy, of half-dead men.[3][5]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Half-alive, half-dead, nearly dead; still living, still conscious.[2][3][1][6]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f 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 k Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  4. ^ 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 Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
  6. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson