mensis

Latin

Etymology 1

From Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon, month”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *meh₁- (“to measure”), referring to the moon's phases as the measure of time. Cognate with Ancient Greek μήν (mḗn), μήνη (mḗnē), English month, Scots moneth (“month”), North Frisian muunt (“month”), Saterland Frisian Mound (“month”), Dutch maand (“month”), German Low German Maand, Monat (“month”), German Monat (“month”), Danish måned (“month”), Swedish månad (“month”), Icelandic mánuði (“month”), Armenian ամիս (amis), Old Irish mí, Old Church Slavonic мѣсѧць (měsęcĭ).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.sis/, [ˈmẽːs̠ɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.sis/, [ˈmɛnsis]

Noun

mēnsis m (genitive mēnsis); third declension

1. month

Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mēnsis	mēnsēs
Genitive	mēnsis	mēnsium
Dative	mēnsī	mēnsibus
Accusative	mēnsem	mēnsēs mēnsīs
Ablative	mēnse	mēnsibus
Vocative	mēnsis	mēnsēs

Derived terms

• mēnstruus
• mēnsuālis

Related terms

• mēnstrua
• mēnstruālis
• mēnstruō
• trimestris

Descendants

• Aromanian: mes
• Asturian: mes
• Catalan: mes
• Dalmatian: mais
• Old French: mois, meis
  • French: mois
  • Norman: mais (Jersey), meis (Guernsey, continental Normandy)
• Friulian: mês

• Galician: mes
• Istriot: miz
• Italian: mese
• Ladin: meis, mens
• Ligurian: méize
• Occitan: mes
• Old Galician-Portuguese: mes
  • Portuguese: mês

• Romansch: mais
• Sardinian: mese, mesi
• Sicilian: misi
• Spanish: mes
• Venetian: méxe
• Walloon: moes

Etymology 2

Inflected form of mēnsa (“table”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.siːs/, [ˈmẽːs̠iːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.sis/, [ˈmɛnsis]

Noun

(deprecated template usage) mēnsīs

1. dative plural of mēnsa
2. ablative plural of mēnsa

References

• “mensis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mensis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mensis in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• mensis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to hold out for four months: obsidionem quattuor menses sustinere
    
  • (ambiguous) the intercalary year (month, day): annus (mensis, dies) intercalaris
    
• “mensis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “mensis”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin