caerimonia

Latin

Alternative forms

• caerimōnium
• cerimōnia (medieval)

Etymology

Unclear. It formally matches Sanskrit कर्मन् (kárman, “action, deed; karma”), as if both were from Proto-Indo-European *kʷermon-, itself an abstract noun formed from Proto-Indo-European *kʷer- (“to do, make”). According to de Vaan, however, it's a derivation from the unattested adjective *caerus +‎ -mōnia also found as the second part of the compound sincērus (“whole, sound”).

Romans folk-etymologized this word as if coming from the name of the city of Caere.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kae̯.riˈmoː.ni.a/, [käe̯rɪˈmoːniä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /t͡ʃe.riˈmo.ni.a/, [t͡ʃeriˈmɔːniä]

Noun

caerimōnia f (genitive caerimōniae); first declension

1. religious ceremony, ritual
2. sacredness, sanctity
3. reverence, veneration, awe

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	caerimōnia	caerimōniae
Genitive	caerimōniae	caerimōniārum
Dative	caerimōniae	caerimōniīs
Accusative	caerimōniam	caerimōniās
Ablative	caerimōniā	caerimōniīs
Vocative	caerimōnia	caerimōniae

Related terms

• caerimōniālis
• caerimōnior
• caerimōniōsus

Descendants

• Catalan: cerimònia
• English: ceremony
• French: cérémonie
  • → Turkish: seremoni
• Galician: cerimonia
• Italian: cerimonia
• Piedmontese: sirimònia
• Polish: ceremonia
• Portuguese: cerimónia
• Romanian: ceremonie
• Russian: церемо́ния (ceremónija)
• Spanish: ceremonia

References

• “caerimonia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “caerimonia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• caerimonia 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)
• caerimonia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to invoke an irrevocable curse on the profanation of sacred rites: violatas caerimonias inexpiabili religione sancire (Tusc. 1. 12. 27)
    
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 81