triginta

Forms

trīgintā (indeclinable)^[1]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Indo-European *trih₂dḱomth₂ (“thirty”).^[2][1] It is built on the stem of trēs (“three”); the OLD analyses it as ⟨trēs⟩ and ⟨-gintā⟩.^[3][2] Cognate with Ancient Greek τριάκοντα (triákonta) and Sanskrit त्रिंशत् (triṃśát).^[1][4]

Earliest recorded meaning

De Vaan gives Plautus as its first author;^[2][5] in the Curculio it is a sum of “thirty minas”.^[4]

Semantic evolution

It is the plain cardinal number thirty, as in Cicero's “when Romulus had reigned thirty-seven years” and Virgil's thirty great circles of the years.^[4] Church Latin has it unchanged.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of thirty minas.^[4][5]
• 81–43 BC – Cicero in On the Republic.^[4][5]

Meanings

Numeral

1. Thirty, 30.^[3][1][6]

Word family

• trīcennium
• trīciēns
• trīgintāuirī

Related words

• trēs
• trecentī

References

1. ^ a b c d e f 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 Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b c d e Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c 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