finis

See also: finís, finiš, and finiş

English

Etymology

From Middle English finis, from Latin fīnis (“end; limit”). Doublet of fin, fine, and finish.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɪnɪs/, /fiːˈniː/

• Audio (UK):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪnɪs, -iː
• Hyphenation: fi‧nis

Noun

finis

1. Of a book or other work: the end.
   • 1836, [Frederick Marryat], “In which our hero finds out that trigonometry is not only necessary to navigation, but may be required in settling affairs of honour”, in Mr. Midshipman Easy […], volume II, London: Saunders and Otley, […], →OCLC, page 32:

     He had gone through the work from the title-page to the finis at least forty times, and had just commenced it over again.

   • 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part III [Nostos], pages 570–571:

     Highly providential was the appearance on the scene of Corny Kelleher when Stephen was blissfully unconscious that, but for that man in the gap turning up at the eleventh hour, the finis might have been that he might have been a candidate for the accident ward, […]

See also

• the end

Catalan

Verb

finis

1. second-person singular present subjunctive of finar

Esperanto

Verb

finis

1. past of fini

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /fi.ni/

• Audio (France (Brétigny-sur-Orge)):

  (file)

• Homophones: fini, finie, finies, finit, finît
• Rhymes: -i

Adjective

finis

1. masculine plural of fini

Verb

finis

1. inflection of finir:
   1. first/second-person singular present indicative
   2. first/second-person singular past historic
   3. second-person singular imperative

Participle

finis m pl

1. masculine plural of fini

Ido

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈfinis/

Verb

finis

1. past of finar

Indonesian

Noun

finis (plural finis-finis)

1. finish

Latin

Etymology

Disputed. Perhaps for Latin *fignis, from Proto-Indo-European *dʰeygʷ- (“to stick, set up”), whence fīgō, or for Latin *fidnis, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyd- (“to split”), whence findō. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)
Other hypotheses include:

• From Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyH- (“to strike”); compare perfinēs (“(you would) break, shatter”).
• From the same source as Proto-Germanic *bainaz (“straight; ready”) and *bainą (“bone”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰeyH-n- (“something straight, pole”), which may or may not be from the same root “to strike” above.

For the meaning “region”, compare pāgus again from a root meaning “to fix”.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈfiː.nɪs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈfiː.nis]

Noun

fīnis m or f (genitive fīnis); third declension

1. end

   Antonyms: initium, prīmōrdium, prīncipium, exōrdium, orīgō, limen

   in finem ― eternally

   ad finem ― to the end

   finem facio ― I cease

   • 29-19 BC, Vergil. Aeneid, 1.199

     dabit Deus hīs quoque fīnem

     God will give an end to these (things) also.

2. limit, border, bound boundary, frontier

   Synonyms: līmes, modus, cacūmen

3. (in the plural) boundaries, bounds, frontiers; by extension, territory, region, lands
   • c. 52 BCE, Julius Caesar, Commentarii de Bello Gallico 1.1:

     Quā dē causā Helvētiī quoque reliquōs Gallōs virtūte praecēdunt, quod ferē cotīdiānīs proeliīs cum Germānīs contendunt, cum aut suīs fīnibus eōs prohibent aut ipsī in eōrum fīnibus bellum gerunt.

     For this reason, the Helvetii also surpass the rest of the Gauls in valor, because they fight in almost daily battles with the Germans, when either they keep them [the Germans] away from their own [Helvetian] territories, or [the Helvetians] themselves wage war in their [the Germans’] lands.
     (Caesar’s use of bellum gerunt signifies more than minor skirmishes to defend a border. The first instance of fīnibus is an Ablative of Separation governed by the verb prohibent (“keep away from”); the second is an Ablative of Place Where. For comparison, the 1869 translation by W. A. McDevitte and W. S. Bohn: “…when they either repel them from their own territories, or themselves wage war on their frontiers.”)

4. limit in duration, term (duration of a set length)
   • 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 26.1:

     huic generī mīlitum senātus eundem, quem Cannēnsibus, fīnem statuērat mīlitiae.

     For this class of soldier the senate had established a limit in duration to their military service, which was the same as the men at Cannae.

5. end, purpose, aim, object, telos

   Synonyms: voluntās, intentiō, cōnsilium, propositum, animus, mēns

6. death, end (of life)

   Synonyms: mors, fūnus, fātum, interitus, exitus, perniciēs, somnus, sopor

7. amount (in late juridical writings)

Usage notes

According to Lewis & Short, finis does occasionally appear as a feminine noun in both the ante-classical and post-classical eras.

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem, ablative singular in -e or -ī).

	singular	plural
nominative	fīnis	fīnēs
genitive	fīnis	fīnium
dative	fīnī	fīnibus
accusative	fīnem	fīnēs fīnīs
ablative	fīne fīnī	fīnibus
vocative	fīnis	fīnēs

Derived terms

• affīnis
• fīnālis
• fīniō
• fīnitimus
• quadrifīnium
• trifīnium

Descendants

• Asturian: fin
• Catalan: fi
• Corsican: fine
• Dalmatian: fain
• Esperanto: fino
• Franco-Provençal: fin
• French: fin
• Friulian: fin
• Galician: fin
• Istriot: feîn
• Italian: fine
• Ladin: fin
• Leonese: fin
• Occitan: fin
• Portuguese: fim
• Romanian: fine
• Romansch: fin, fegn
• Sardinian: fine, fini
• Sicilian: fini, finu
• Spanish: fin
• Venetan: fin
• Walloon: fén
• → Proto-Brythonic: *fin (see there for further descendants)
• → Middle Irish: fín (see there for further descendants)

Verb

fīnīs

1. second-person singular present active of fīniō

Further reading

• “finis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “finis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• finis in Dizionario Latino, Olivetti
• "finis", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “finis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to enlarge the boundaries of a kingdom: fines (imperii) propagare, extendere, (longius) proferre
    
  • to evacuate territory: (ex) finibus excedere
    
  • to put an end to one's life: vitae finem facere
    
  • such was the end of... (used of a violent death): talem vitae exitum (not finem) habuit (Nep. Eum. 13)
    
  • to finish, complete, fulfil, accomplish a thing: finem facere alicuius rei
    
  • to finish, complete, fulfil, accomplish a thing: finem imponere, afferre, constituere alicui rei
    
  • to finish, complete, fulfil, accomplish a thing: ad finem aliquid adducere
    
  • to come to an end: finem habere
    
  • to cease speaking: finem dicendi facere
    
  • to impose fixed limitations: fines certos terminosque constituere
    
  • to put an end to war: belli finem facere, bellum finire
    

Pijin

Etymology

From English finish.

Particle

finis

1. Tense marker for the past perfect tense