decem

Latin

Latin cardinal numbers

<  IX	X	XI  >
Cardinal : decem     Ordinal : decimus     Adverbial : deciēns     Multiplier : decuplus, decuplex, decemplus, decemplex     Distributive : dēnī     Fractional : decimus
Latin Wikipedia article on Decem

Alternative forms

• Symbol: X

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *déḱm̥. Cognates include Sanskrit दश (daśa), Ancient Greek δέκα (déka), Old English tīen (English ten).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈde.kem/, [ˈd̪ɛkɛ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈde.t͡ʃem/, [ˈd̪ɛːt͡ʃem]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Numeral

decem (indeclinable)

1. ten; 10
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 5.9:

     Caesar exposito exercitu et loco castris idoneo capto, ubi ex captivis cognovit quo in loco hostium copiae consedissent, cohortibus decem ad mare relictis et equitibus trecentis, qui praesidio navibus essent […]

     Caesar, having disembarked his army and chosen a convenient place for the camp, when he discovered from the prisoners in what part the forces of the enemy had lodged themselves, having left ten cohorts and 300 horse at the sea, to be a guard to the ships, hastens to the enemy […]

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 15.422–423:

     sic magna fuit censuque virisque perque decem potuit tantum dare sanguinis annos

     Thus Troy stood great in wealth and men, and for ten years was able to give freely of her blood.

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Marcus.10.41:

     et audientes decem coeperunt indignari de Iacobo et Iohanne

     And when the ten heard it, they began to be much displeased with James and John.

Derived terms

• decanus
• december
• decemiugis
• decemmodius
• decempeda
• decempedātor
• decemplex
• decemplicātus
• decemvir
• decemvirālis
• decennis
• -decim
• decima
• decimus
• decimō
• decuplus

 

Descendants

• Aragonese: deu, diez
• Aromanian: dzatsi
• Asturian: diez
• Catalan: deu
• Corsican: deci
• Dalmatian: dic
• Esperanto: dek
• Old French: dis
  • French: dix
• Friulian: dîs
• Interlingua: dece
• Istriot: gise, gize
• Istro-Romanian: zeţe
• Italian: dieci, diece

• Ladin: diesc
• Norman: dgix
• Occitan: dètz
• Old Galician-Portuguese: dez
  • Galician: dez
  • Portuguese: dez
• Romanian: zece
• Romansch: diesch
• Sardinian: deghe
• Sicilian: deci
• Spanish: diez
• Venetian: diéxe
• Walloon: dijh

See also

• Appendix:Latin cardinal numerals

References

• “decem”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “decem”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• decem in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • a boy ten years old: puer decem annorum
    
  • to be ten years old: decem annos vixisse
    
  • I was ten years old at the time: tum habebam decem annos
    
  • to be fined 10,000 asses: decem milibus aeris damnari