ignis

Latin

Etymology

From earlier *egni, *igni, dissimilated from *engni, *ingni, from Proto-Indo-European *h₁n̥gʷnis (“fire”). Cognate with Sanskrit अग्नि (agní), Hittite 𒀀𒀝𒉌𒅖 (akniš) (an Indo-Iranian borrowing), Old Church Slavonic огнь (ognĭ) and Old Prussian ugnis.

Pronunciation

• (ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈi.ɲis/

• audio (ecclesiastical)

  (file)

• (classical) IPA^(key): /ˈiŋ.nis/

• audio (classical)

  (file)

Noun

ignis m (genitive ignis); third declension

1. fire

   ferro ignique.

   With iron and [with] fire.

   • 29–19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid, 8.420

     striduntque cauernis / stricturae Chalybum et fornacibus ignis anhelat

     Chalybian ores hiss in the caverns, and from the furnace mouths puff the hot-panting fires

Inflection

Third declension i-stem, alternative ablative singular in -ī.

Number	Singular	Plural
nominative	ignis	ignēs
genitive	ignis	ignium
dative	ignī	ignibus
accusative	ignem	ignīs ignēs
ablative	ignī igne	ignibus
vocative	ignis	ignēs

Derived terms

• ignēscō (“to kindle, burn”)
• igniō (“to ignite”)
• igneus (“fiery”)
• ignifer (“bearing fire”)

References

• Michiel de Vaan (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden, Boston: Brill Academic Publishers, page 297