habena

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti

Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti

Proto-Italic *haβēō

Latin habeō

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Italic *-nos

Latin -na

Latin habenabor.

English habena

Borrowed from Latin habena.

Noun

habena (plural habenae)

1. A restricting bandage or frenum

Derived terms

• habenal

Anagrams

• Bahena

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *gʰeh₁bʰ-

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁ti

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éh₁yeti

Proto-Indo-European *gʰh₁bʰéh₁yeti

Proto-Italic *haβēō

Latin habeō

Proto-Indo-European *-nós

Proto-Italic *-nos

Latin -na

Latin habēna

From habeō + -na.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [haˈbeː.na]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [aˈbɛː.na]

Noun

habēna f (genitive habēnae); first declension

1. thong, strap; shoestrings, shoelaces

   Near-synonyms: lōrum, ligula / lingula, āmentum

2. (chiefly in the plural) reins of a bridle

   Synonyms: lōrum, (Medieval Latin) retina

   Coordinate term: frēnum

   1. (in figurative use) commandement, direction, sway, dominion

      habēnās dāre/immitere/linquere ― to confide/hand/leave the government of

      • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 1.62–63:

        [...] Rēgemque dedit quī foedere certō
        et premere et laxās scīret dare iussus habēnās.

        And [Jupiter] gave [the winds] a king who by chartered agreement would know how to restrain as well as to give loosened reins [to them], [the king] having been commanded [to do so].
        (Jupiter commands King Aeolus who metaphorically can harness the winds much as a charioteer drives horses. See Aeolus (son of Hippotes).)

      • 524 CE, Boethius, Consolation of Philosophy 4.1m:

        Hīc rēgum sceptrum dominus tenet
        Orbisque habēnās temperat

        Here the lord of kings holds his sceptre, and controls the reins of the world

3. lash, whip, scourge

   Synonyms: lōrum, verber, scutica, flagrum, corium

4. (naval, of a ship's rigging) sheet
5. (very rare, medicine) a small strip of diseased flesh cut out from the body

   Synonym: habēnula

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	habēna	habēnae
genitive	habēnae	habēnārum
dative	habēnae	habēnīs
accusative	habēnam	habēnās
ablative	habēnā	habēnīs
vocative	habēna	habēnae

Derived terms

• habēnula

Descendants

• → Proto-Brythonic: *aβuɨn (see there for further descendants)

References

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