ensis

See also: Ensis and -ensis

English

Noun

ensis

1. plural of ensi

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *ensis (“sword”), perhaps from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ensi- (“sword, large knife”) (de Vaan, 2008).

According to de Vaan, all alleged Indo-European cognates are uncertain: Ancient Greek ἄορ (áor, “(hanger for a) sword”), Sanskrit असि (asi, “sword”), Avestan 𐬀𐬵𐬏 (ahū, “sword, knife”), Palaic 𒄩𒅆𒄿𒊏 (ḫa-ši-i-ra /⁠hasīra⁠/, “dagger”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈen.sis/, [ˈẽːs̠ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈen.sis/, [ˈɛnsis]

Noun

ēnsis m (genitive ēnsis); third declension

1. (chiefly poetic) sword
   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 2.391–393:

     ...sīc fātus deinde comantem / Androgeī galeam clipeīque īnsigne decōrum / induitur, laterīque Argīuum accommodat ēnsem.

     • 2007 translation by Frederick Ahl

       [...] This said, he donned Androgeos' helmet, / Crested with plumes, then he strapped on his shield, quite superbly emblazoned, / Fitted an Argive sword at his hip, readjusting the buckle.

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Metamorphoses 5.79–80:

     At nōn Actoridēn Erytum, cui lāta bipennis / tēlum erat, hāmātō Perseus petit ēnse...

     Yet does not Perseus attack Erytus, son of Actor, for whom a broad double-sided battle-axe was his weapon, with his hooked sword...

   • c. 150 CE – 200 CE, Hyginus, De Astronomia 3.33:

     Ōrīōn. Hunc ā zōnā et reliquō corpore aequinoctiālis circulus dīuidit, cum Taurō dēcertantem collocātum, dextrā manū clāuam tenentem et incīnctum ēnse spectantem ad occāsum, et occidentem exortā Scorpiōnis posteriōre parte et Sagittāriō exoriente, cum Cancrō autem tōtō corpore pariter exsurgentem. Hic habet in capite stēllās III clārās, in utrīsque humerīs singulās, in dextrō cubitō obscūram I, in manū similem I, in zōnā III, in eō quō gladius eius dēfōrmātur III obscūrās, in utrīsque genibus singulās clārās, in pedibus singulās. Omnīnō XVII.

     Orion. His belt and the rest of his body are separated [from the upper part of him] by the equator. He is placed as though in confrontation with the Bull, holding a club in his right hand, and with a sword at his waist; he is looking toward the west. He sets at the rising of the hind part of the Scorpion, and rises with his whole body at the same time as the Crab. He has three bright stars on his head, one star on each shoulder, a faint star on his right elbow, a similar star on his hand, three stars on his belt, three faint ones where his sword is depicted, one bright one on each knee, and one each at his feet. In all, seventeen.

   Synonym: gladius

2. (figuratively) war

   lātēque vagātur ēnsis

3. (figuratively) defender

   Mārcellō Rōmānōrum ēnsī

4. (figuratively) royal sway
5. (metonymically) the constellation Orion

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ēnsis	ēnsēs
Genitive	ēnsis	ēnsium
Dative	ēnsī	ēnsibus
Accusative	ēnsem	ēnsēs ēnsīs
Ablative	ēnse	ēnsibus
Vocative	ēnsis	ēnsēs

Derived terms

• ēnsifer
• ēnsiculus

Descendants

• Translingual: Ensis

References

• “ensis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “ensis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ensis 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)
• ensis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “ensis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “ensis”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin