frenum

English

Alternative forms

• fraenum, frænum (hypercorrect, nonstandard)

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin frēnum.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈfɹiːnəm/

Noun

frenum (plural frena or frenums)

1. A frenulum.

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Latin

Etymology

Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *dʰer- (“to hold”). Cognates include ferē, fermē and firmus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈfreː.num/, [ˈfreːnʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈfre.num/, [ˈfrɛːnum]

Noun

frēnum n (genitive frēnī); second declension

1. A bridle, harness, curb, bit.
2. (figuratively) A means of guiding or governing; restraint, check, limit.
3. (by extension) That which holds things together; band.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	frēnum	frēna
Genitive	frēnī	frēnōrum
Dative	frēnō	frēnīs
Accusative	frēnum	frēna
Ablative	frēnō	frēnīs
Vocative	frēnum	frēna

• Nom. Pl. is mostly frēni with frēna occurring more in poets.

Derived terms

• frēniger
• frēnō

Related terms

• ferē
• fermē
• firmus

• frēnātiō
• frēnātor
• frēnātor

Descendants

• Eastern Romance:
  • Aromanian: frãn, fãrnu, frãnu
  • Romanian: frână, frâu
• Italian: freno
• Old French: frein
  • French: frein
• Old Occitan:
  • Catalan: fre
  • Occitan: fren
• Old Galician-Portuguese: frẽo
  • Galician: freo
  • Portuguese: freio
• Old Spanish:
  • Spanish: freno
• Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Friulian: fren
  • Romansch: frain, frein, fragn
• Sardinian: frenu
• Sicilian: frenu
• Venetian: fren
• → Albanian: fre
• → English: frenum
• → Old Irish: srían
  • Irish: srian
  • Scottish Gaelic: srian

References

• “frenum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “frenum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• frenum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) with loose reins: freno remisso; effusis habenis
    
• “frenum”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “frenum”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin