initium

Latin

Etymology

From ineō (“go in, make a start”), from in (“in, into”) + eō (“go”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /iˈni.ti.um/, [ɪˈnɪ.ti.ũ]

Noun

initium n (genitive initiī); second declension

1. beginning

Inflection

Second declension.

Case	Singular	Plural
nominative	initium	initia
genitive	initiī	initiōrum
dative	initiō	initiīs
accusative	initium	initia
ablative	initiō	initiīs
vocative	initium	initia

Derived terms

• initiō

Descendants

• Italian: inizio
• Portuguese: início
• Spanish: inicio
• Catalan: inici
• Gàidhlig: inid

References

• initium in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• initium in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “initium” in Félix Gaffiot’s Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette (1934)
• Carl Meissner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to begin with a thing: initium capere; incipere ab aliqua re
    
  • to commence a thing: initium facere, ducere, sumere (alicuius rei)
    
  • to start from small beginnings: ab exiguis initiis proficisci
    
  • to begin to speak: initium dicendi facere
    
  • to commence hostilities: bellum incipere, belli initium facere (B. G. 7. 1. 5)
    
  • (ambiguous) the elements: elementa; initia or principia rerum
    
  • (ambiguous) at the beginning of the year: initio anni, ineunte anno