tricesimus

Forms

trīcēsimus (feminine trīcēsima, neuter trīcēsimum); first/second-declension numeral^[1] Also trīcēnsimus.^[2][3] The less frequent trīgēsimus is post-Augustan, found in Martial and Justin;^[4][3] the OLD notes trig- in Gaius.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin trīgintā (“thirty”) + -ēsimus (“-th”),^[1] formed, as the OLD notes, in the same way as trīcēnī (“thirty each”).^[2] For the parallel vīcēsimus (“twentieth”), spelled ⟨vīkēnsumo-⟩ in an inscription, de Vaan reconstructs Proto-Italic *wīkenssamo-, with the suffix Proto-Indo-European *-tmHo- that Indo-Iranian also has.^[5] He lists trīgintā among the derivatives of trēs (“three”) and reconstructs Proto-Indo-European *trih2dḱomth2 (“thirty”).^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler's first source is Cicero,^[6] who writes in a letter idem tricesimo post die feci, “I did the same thirty days later”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is the ordinal “thirtieth”, used of days and years: Cicero has tertius et tricesimus annus, “the thirty-third year”, Livy tricesimum annum agens, “in his thirtieth year”, and Galba, writing to Cicero, legio quinta tricesima, the thirty-fifth legion.^[4][3] Horace has tricesima sabbata.^[4][3] Ecclesiastical Latin uses both tricesimus and trigesimus.^[7]

In British medieval Latin it is also used of the thirtieth day after a death or the day of the last mass of a trental, and then as a noun.^[8] Italian trentesimo continues it.^[9]

Timeline

• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of days and years.^[4][6]
• 65–8 BC – Horace has tricesima sabbata.^[4][3][6]
• 59 BC–17 AD – Livy has tricesimum annum agens.^[4][3][6]
• 40–102/103 AD – Martial uses the form trigesimus.^[4][6]
• 140–180 AD – Gaius writes it with trig-.^[2][6]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Thirtieth.^[2][4][7]
2. (Medieval Latin) Of the thirtieth day after a death, or the final mass of a trental; also as a noun.^[8]

Related words

• trīgintā
• trīcēnī
• trēs

References

1. ^ a b c d 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. ^ a b c d e f Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
6. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
7. ^ a b Stelten, Leo F. (1995), Dictionary of Ecclesiastical Latin, Peabody, Mass.: Hendrickson
8. ^ a b Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
9. ^ Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier