ternus

Forms

ternus (feminine terna, neuter ternum); first/second-declension numeral^[1]

Etymology

It is the rare singular of ternī (“three each”), formed from ter (“three times”) (from trēs (“three”)) with the suffix -nus; compare the older trīnī.^[2][1] De Vaan suggests that ⟨ternī⟩ goes back to ⟨*tri-no-⟩, as expected from Proto-Indo-European, and ⟨trīnī⟩ to a newer ⟨*trisno-⟩; he derives ⟨trēs⟩ from Proto-Italic *trejes and Proto-Indo-European *tréyes (“three”).^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Plautus is its first author in the OLD, whose Epidicus has captives “two and three apiece”, and whose Mercator has a riddle of “three letters” – amō.^[2]

Semantic evolution

In the plural it is the distributive “three each”, “three at a time”, as the historian Asellio's “never fewer than three thousand men followed Gracchus”, and of a set, simply three.^[2][1] Wiktionary also gives triple or threefold.^[1]

In Church usage ternus or terna is a list of three names, the candidates for an appointment to an office.^[4] Köbler dates the singular in British medieval Latin to the 12th century.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of three apiece.^[2][5]
• 12th century – the singular in British medieval Latin.^[5]

Meanings

Numeral

1. (plural) Three each, three apiece; three at a time; three (in a set).^[2][1]
2. Triple, threefold.^[1]
3. (Ecclesiastical Latin) A group of three; a list of three candidates for an office.^[4]

Word family

• ternārius
• terniō

Related words

• trēs
• ter
• trīnī
• bīnī

References

1. ^ a b c d e f Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ 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 Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
5. ^ a b c Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de