decanus

Latin

Etymology

From decem (“ten”) +‎ -ānus.

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /deˈkaː.nus/, [d̪ɛˈkäːnʊs̠]

• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /deˈka.nus/, [d̪eˈkäːnus]

Noun

decānus m (genitive decānī); second declension (Late Latin)

1. chief of ten people (in various contexts)
2. dean

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	decānus	decānī
Genitive	decānī	decānōrum
Dative	decānō	decānīs
Accusative	decānum	decānōs
Ablative	decānō	decānīs
Vocative	decāne	decānī

Descendants

• Gallo-Romance:
  • Catalan: degà
  • Occitan: degan
  • Old Francoprovençal: dain
    • Franco-Provençal: dain
  • Old French: deien, deen (Anglo-Norman)
    • → Middle English: deen
      • English: dean
    • Middle French: doien
      • French: doyen
        • → English: doyen
        • → Portuguese: daião
      • Norman: douoyen
    • → Portuguese: deão
    • → Spanish: deán
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Spanish: degano
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: decano
  • Venetan: degàn
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: dean

• Borrowings:
  • → Ancient Greek: δεκᾱνός (dekānós)
  • → Asturian: decanu
  • → Dutch: decaan, dekaan
    • → Indonesian: dekan
    • → Papiamentu: dekan
    • Afrikaans: dekaan
  • → German: Dekan
  • → Middle Dutch: deken
    • Dutch: deken
  • → Old Czech: děkan
    • Czech: děkan
    • → Polish: dziekan
  • → Old Frisian: deken
    • West Frisian: deken
  • → Old High German: dëchan, tëchant
    • Middle High German: techant, dechent
      • German: Dechant
  • → Old Irish: decán, decánach
    • Irish: deagánach
  • → Portuguese: decano
  • → Romanian: decan
  • → Russian: дека́н (dekán)
  • → Spanish: decano

References

• “decanus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• decanus in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• decanus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “decanus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• decanus in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “decanus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin