dens Latin · revision 772

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA (Classical): [ˈdẽːs]^(Wiktionary)

+ * IPA (Ecclesiastical): [ˈdɛns]^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Forms==

+ '''dēns''' ''m'' (genitive dentis); third declension^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is [[inh|itc-pro|*dent-]], [[inh|ine-pro|*h₃d-n̥t-|t=tooth]].^(de Vaan 2008) The initial laryngeal rests on Greek and Armenian: Ionic [[grc|ὀδών|tr=odṓn]] (later [[m|grc|ὀδούς|tr=odoús]]) and [[xcl|ատամն|tr=atamn]] show that Greek o- is original, against the Aeolic form with e- known only from a 12th-century gloss.^(de Vaan 2008) An [[osc|dunte]] may be the same word, but its meaning is uncertain.^(de Vaan 2008) Other cognates are [[sga|dét]], [[sa|दन्त्|tr=dánt-]], [[lt|dantìs]], [[got|𐍄𐌿𐌽𐌸𐌿𐍃|tr=tunþus]] and [[goh|zand]], all "tooth".^(de Vaan 2008) [[en|tooth]] belongs here through [[ang|tōþ]].^(Wiktionary) Köbler and Lewis & Short connect it with the verb [[edo|alt=edō]] "to eat".^(Köbler 2010)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+

+ Ancient writers derived it from [[demo|alt=dēmere]] "to take away" (Cassiodorus), or explained the teeth as dividing the food, though Isidore of Seville also saw the Greek word behind it.^(TLL) DÉRom reconstructs a masculine Proto-Romance */ˈdɛnt-e/, continued in every Romance variety, as in [[ro|dinte]] and [[dlm|diant]]; where it is feminine, as in French, the change follows the general Proto-Romance tendency to make third-declension nouns feminine.^(DÉRom)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A law of the Twelve Tables (c. 450 BC) mentions a dead person "whose teeth are joined with gold" (''cui auro dentes iuncti escunt'').^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Besides human and animal teeth it named the tusks of the boar and the elephant, and so ivory.^(OLD 2012) Anything shaped like a tooth could be a ''dēns'': the teeth of a comb or rake, the share of a plough, the fluke of an anchor, the blade of a sickle.^(OLD 2012) Figuratively it was the bite of a destructive or spiteful power: Cicero speaks of envious people who "carp with a malicious tooth", and Ovid of the "teeth of age" that spoil all things.^(OLD 2012) Köbler adds the medieval senses "strength" and "bite".^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 450 BC – The Twelve Tables mention teeth bound with gold.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 250–184 BC – Plautus has a character laughed at "with white teeth".^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 81–43 BC – Cicero describes elephant tusks of enormous size, and the tooth of envy.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 70–19 BC – Virgil uses it for the share of a plough and the fluke of an anchor.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * 43 BC–18 AD – Ovid writes of the teeth of age.^(OLD 2012)^(Köbler 2010)

+ * c. 1500 – The masculine [[ro|dinte]] is first recorded.^(DÉRom)

+

+ ==Meanings==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A [[m|en|tooth]].^(OLD 2012)^(Lewis & Short 1879)

+ # A [[m|en|tusk]] of a boar or elephant; [[m|en|ivory]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # A tooth-like part: a [[m|en|tine]] of a comb or rake, a [[m|en|ploughshare]], the fluke of an anchor, a blade.^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(figurative)'' The bite of a destructive or spiteful power, especially [[m|en|envy]].^(OLD 2012)

+ # ''(Medieval Latin)'' Strength; bite.^(Köbler 2010)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[ambidens]]

+ * [[dentāle]]

+ * [[dentāneus]]

+ * [[dentārius]]

+ * [[dentātus]]

+ * [[dentex]]

+ * [[denticulus]]

+ * [[dentiducum]]

+ * [[dentifrangibulus]]

+ * [[dentifricium]]

+ * [[dentilegus]]

+ * [[dentiō]]

+

+ ==Related words==

+ * [[Denter]]

+ * [[en|tooth]]

+ * [[en|dentist]]

+

+ ==Usage notes==

+ The front teeth were ''dentēs prīmōrēs'', the eye-teeth ''dentēs canīnī'' and the back teeth ''genuīnī'' or ''molārēs''.^(Lewis & Short 1879) The genitive plural is normally ''dentium'', but Varro approved ''dentum'' as well.^(Lewis & Short 1879)^(TLL)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}