ianua

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂- (“to go, go in, travel”). Cognate with Old Church Slavonic ꙗдо (jado, “to travel”) and Sanskrit यान (yāna, “path”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈi̯aː.nu.a/, [ˈi̯äːnuä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈja.nu.a/, [ˈjäːnuä]

Noun

iānua f (genitive iānuae); first declension

1. any double-doored entrance (e.g. a domestic door or a gate to a temple or city)
2. an entrance, entry, access

   Synonyms: ingressus, ingressiō, līmen, initium, foris, porta, vestibulum

   Antonym: abitus

Declension

First-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	iānua	iānuae
Genitive	iānuae	iānuārum
Dative	iānuae	iānuīs
Accusative	iānuam	iānuās
Ablative	iānuā	iānuīs
Vocative	iānua	iānuae

Derived terms

• iānitor
• iānuārius

Related terms

• Iānus

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Old Neapolitan: januwa (Abruzzo)
  • Sicilian: janua (Calabria)
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Gascon: jan, janc (“louvered door”) (Pyrenean)
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: janna, zanna
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Mozarabic: יאנה (yʔnh)
• Vulgar Latin:
  • *iānuella (see there for further descendants)
  • *ienua
    • Franco-Provençal: genne (16th c.), djemme, jaime
    • Romansch: dźəinə, dźe̢nə, dze̢nna, dźe̢na, yẹnna
    • Sardinian: genna, enna (Campidanese)

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “janua”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), volume 5: J L, page 29

Further reading

• ianua in Dizionario Latino, Olivetti
• “ianua”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• ianua in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to burst open the door: ianuam effringere, revellere
    
• “ianua”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers