senus Latin · revision 33674

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=c. 250–184 BC, Plautus|origins=ine-pro *(s)ueks}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈseː.nʊs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈsɛː.nus]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''sēnus''' (feminine sēna, neuter sēnum); first/second-declension numeral^(Wiktionary)

+ It is almost always plural, ''sēnī, sēnae, sēna'', with genitive ''sēnum'';^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Statius has the singular.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[af|la|sex|-nus|t1=six]], from a pre-Latin ⟨*seksnos⟩.^(OLD 2012)^(Wiktionary) De Vaan explains its form by the loss of ⟨*ks⟩ before ⟨n⟩, as in [[m|la|sēdecim|t=sixteen]];^(de Vaan 2008) he traces [[m|la|sex]] to [[itc-pro|*seks]] and [[ine-pro|*(s)ueks|t=six]].^(de Vaan 2008) Cognate with [[sga|sé|t=six]], [[grc|ἕξ|tr=héx|t=six]] and [[lt|šešì|t=six]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Plautus,^(de Vaan 2008) who has hangers-on coming to the courtesans five or six at a time.^(OLD 2012) Cato tells the farmer to make six holes in each piece.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ As a distributive it means six each or six apiece: Cicero has six denarii exacted from each person, Livy an army in six parts relieving one another every six hours, and Martial a man wearing six rings on each finger.^(OLD 2012) It also means six at a time: Tibullus has the Sibyl singing fates in verses of six feet.^(OLD 2012) In compounds it gives sixteen each, as Cicero's boys of sixteen and seventeen years.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) In poetry it often has no distributive force and means simply six, especially in phrases such as ''bis sēnī'', twice six, in Ovid.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879) Horace and Statius use it for the six feet of the hexameter.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus, “five or six at a time”.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 234–149 BC – Cato, of six holes each.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero, of six denarii apiece.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid, ''bis sēnī'', twelve.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 45–96 AD – Statius, the singular, of the hexameter.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Numeral===

+ # ''(chiefly plural)'' [[m|en|six|alt=Six]] each, six apiece;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) six at a time.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(poetic)'' Six;^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Wiktionary) ''bis sēnī'', twelve.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[bissēnus]]

+ * [[sēnārius]]

+ * [[sēniō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[sex]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}