sexaginta

Forms

sexāgintā (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is from Latin sex (“six”) + -gintā (“-ty”).^[2][3] Wiktionary traces it to Proto-Indo-European *sweḱsḱomt, from earlier *swéḱsdḱomt (“six tens”).^[1] De Vaan notes that the ⟨-ā-⟩ was inserted after quadrāgintā (“forty”), since *seks-g- would have given ⟨sēgintā⟩, and traces sex to Proto-Italic *seks and *(s)ueks (“six”).^[3] Cognate with Ancient Greek ἑξήκοντα (hexḗkonta, “sixty”).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Plautus,^[5] who speaks of sixty minae and of sixty years;^[4] de Vaan's first author is Cato.^[3]

Semantic evolution

It is the indeclinable numeral sixty, used with nouns of all kinds;^[2][4] Terence and Cicero have it in giving ages, as sexāgintā annōs nātus “sixty years old”, and Livy of men over sixty.^[2][4] Church Latin keeps the sense.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of sixty minae and sixty years.^[4][5]
• 234–149 BC – Cato uses it.^[3][5]
• 190–159 BC – Terence of a man sixty years old.^[4][5]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Sixty; 60.^[2][4][6][1]

Word family

• sexāgēnī
• sexāgiēns

Related words

• sex
• sexāgēsimus

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
4. ^ a b c d e f g Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d 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