Etymologically
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tenebrae

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Pronunciation

  • IPA (Classical): [ˈtɛ.nɛ.brae̯], [tɛˈnɛb.rae̯][1]
  • IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈtɛː.ne.bre], [teˈnɛb.re][1]

Forms

tenebrae f pl (genitive tenebrārum); first declension[1]

Etymology

It continues Proto-Italic *temasrā- (“darkness”), the feminine of an adjective Proto-Indo-European *temH-s-ro- (“dark”), with /m/ dissimilated to /n/ before /b/.[2][1] Cognate with Sanskrit तमिस्रा (támisrā, “dark night”) and Old High German demar (“twilight”).[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Plautus, where a character says it was dark “as in a well”.[2][3] Köbler dates Plautus c. 250–184 BC.[4]

Semantic evolution

It was darkness, the absence of light, and the darkness of blindness or death.[3] Figuratively it was mental darkness or ignorance, obscurity or concealment, and a dark or gloomy state of affairs, as the “fog and darkness” that covered the state in Cicero.[3] Isidore says darkness is nothing but the absence of light.[5]

In the medieval Church Tenebrae were the matins of the last three days before Easter.[6] Its derivative tenebrōsus gave English tenebrous in the late 15th century.[7] It survives in Italian tenebre and Spanish tinieblas.[1]

Timeline

  • c. 250–184 BC – Plautus says it was dark as a well.[3][4]
  • 81–43 BC – Cicero speaks of the darkness over the state.[3][4]
  • late 15th century – English tenebrous is recorded.[7]

Meanings

Noun

  1. Darkness.[3]
  2. Blindness; the darkness of death.[3]
  3. (figurative) Ignorance.[3]
  4. Obscurity, concealment.[3]
  5. A gloomy state of affairs.[3]
  6. (Medieval Latin) Tenebrae, the matins of Holy Week.[6]
  • obtenebrō
  • tenebellae
  • tenebrārius
  • tenebrātiō
  • tenebrēscō
  • tenebricō
  • tenebricōsus
  • tenebricus
  • tenebriō
  • tenebrōsus
  • English tenebrous

Usage notes

Döderlein contrasts obscūrum, darkness as an obstruction of light, with tenebrae, the absence of light, opposed to lūx.[8] It is a plural noun, the singular tenebra being late.[3][9]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b c 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 Niermeyer, J. F. (1976), Mediae Latinitatis Lexicon Minus, Leiden: Brill
  7. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper
  9. ^ Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press