triens

Forms

triēns m (genitive trientis); third declension^[1] Georges records a vulgar by-form trian in the land surveyors and metrological writers.^[2]

Etymology

It is from Latin trēs (“three”).^[3][4][5] De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the numeral, which goes back to Proto-Italic *trejes and Proto-Indo-European *treies (“three”).^[6]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan dates it from Varro,^[6] who explains it as the third part of an as, just as the sextans is the sixth.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Its basic sense is a third part of a whole divided into twelve, that is four twelfths.^[2] Cicero reckons “a third of a third”, and in inheritances and partnerships ex or in triente esse meant to have a one-third share, as heirs to a third do in Suetonius.^[3][4][7] As a rate of interest it meant one third per cent a month, four per cent a year, in Cicero's letters and the jurists.^[3][4][2]

Much of its use is in coinage and measures: a coin worth a third of an as (Varro, Horace, Livy, Pliny the Elder, Juvenal), and under the later emperors a gold coin worth a third of an aureus; a weight; a cup holding a third of a sextarius (Propertius, Martial); a third of a iugerum (Columella); a beam a third of a foot thick (Vitruvius).^[3][4][2][7] Vitruvius also uses it for the number two, as a third of six.^[4][2] Bede and other British medieval writers use it for the third part of a pound, an as or a denarius.^[8]

Timeline

• 116–27 BC – Varro explains it as the third part of an as.^[3][6][9]
• 86/82 BC – The Rhetorica ad Herennium uses it of the coin.^[3][9]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of shares in an inheritance and of a rate of interest.^[3][4][9]
• c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a beam and of the number two.^[3][4][9]
• 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of a drinking cup.^[3][9]
• early 8th century – Bede uses it of a third of a pound.^[8][9]

Meanings

Noun

1. A third part (of a quantity); ex (in) triente esse: to have a one-third share (in an inheritance or partnership).^[3][4]
2. A rate of interest of one third per cent a month.^[3][4]
3. The third part of an as, as a coin or a unit of weight;^[3][4][2] (later) a gold coin worth a third of an aureus.^[3][4][2]
4. A drinking cup holding a third of a sextarius, or its contents.^[3][4]
5. A beam a third of a foot thick.^[3]
6. A third of a iugerum (in land measure).^[4][2]
7. (mathematics) The number two (as a third of six).^[4][2]

Word family

• trientābulum
• trientālis
• trientārius

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i Georges, Karl Ernst (1913–1918), Ausführliches lateinisch-deutsches Handwörterbuch, 8th ed., ed. Heinrich Georges, Hannover; Leipzig: Hahn
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ Bianchi, Rossella; Lelli, Olga (2014), VOLI: Vocabolario di latino, Florence: Le Monnier
6. ^ 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
7. ^ a b Conte, Gian Biagio; Pianezzola, Emilio; Ranucci, Giuliano (2010), il Latino: Vocabolario della lingua latina, 3rd ed., Florence: Le Monnier
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. ^ a b c d e f Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de