mendacium

Latin

Etymology

From mendāc- (“lying”, “untruthful”, oblique stem of mendāx) +‎ -ium (nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /menˈdaː.ki.um/, [mɛn̪ˈd̪äːkiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /menˈda.t͡ʃi.um/, [men̪ˈd̪äːt͡ʃium]

Noun

mendācium n (genitive mendāciī or mendācī); second declension

1. A lie, untruth, falsehood, fiction.
2. An illusion, counterfeit.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mendācium	mendācia
Genitive	mendāciī mendācī1	mendāciōrum
Dative	mendāciō	mendāciīs
Accusative	mendācium	mendācia
Ablative	mendāciō	mendāciīs
Vocative	mendācium	mendācia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• mendāciloquus
• mendāciunculum

Related terms

• mendāciloquium
• mendācitās
• mendāciter
• mendāx

Descendants

• French: mendacieux
• Italian: mendacio

References

• “mendacium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mendacium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mendacium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to tell lies: mendacium dicere
    

Quotations

• "Ego numquam pronuntiare mendacium sed ego sum homo indomitus." Braveheart.