triens Latin · revision 34770

+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=derivation|attested=116–27 BC, Varro|origins=la trēs}}

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * Classical: [ˈtri.ẽːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * Ecclesiastical: [ˈtriː.ens]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''triēns''' ''m'' (genitive trientis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+ Georges records a vulgar by-form ''trian'' in the land surveyors and metrological writers.^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[der|la|trēs|t=three]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Bianchi & Lelli 2014) De Vaan lists it among the derivatives of the numeral, which goes back to [[itc-pro|*trejes]] and [[ine-pro|*treies|t=three]].^(de Vaan 2008)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ De Vaan dates it from Varro,^(de Vaan 2008) who explains it as the third part of an [[as]], just as the ''sextans'' is the sixth.^(OLD 2012)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Its basic sense is a third part of a whole divided into twelve, that is four twelfths.^(Georges 1913) 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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Conte 2010) 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.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ 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).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)^(Conte 2010) Vitruvius also uses it for the number two, as a third of six.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) Bede and other British medieval writers use it for the third part of a pound, an as or a [[denarius]].^(DMLBS)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 116–27 BC – Varro explains it as the third part of an as.^(OLD 2012)^(de Vaan 2008)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 86/82 BC – The ''Rhetorica ad Herennium'' uses it of the coin.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero uses it of shares in an inheritance and of a rate of interest.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 84–c. 25 BC – Vitruvius uses it of a beam and of the number two.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 57/46–12 BC – Propertius uses it of a drinking cup.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * early 8th century – Bede uses it of a third of a pound.^(DMLBS)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|third]] part (of a quantity); ''ex'' (''in'') ''triente esse'': to have a one-third share (in an inheritance or partnership).^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A rate of [[m|en|interest]] of one third per cent a month.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # The third part of an as, as a coin or a unit of [[m|en|weight]];^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913) (later) a gold coin worth a third of an aureus.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # A drinking [[m|en|cup]] holding a third of a sextarius, or its contents.^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|beam]] a third of a foot thick.^(OLD 2012)

+ # A third of a iugerum (in land measure).^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+ # ''(mathematics)'' The number two (as a third of six).^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Georges 1913)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[trientābulum]]

+ * [[trientālis]]

+ * [[trientārius]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}