monstrum

See also: Monstrum

Latin

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *men-

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti

Proto-Indo-European *monéyeti

Proto-Italic *man-eje-

Proto-Italic *moneō

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *-om

Proto-Indo-European *-trom

Proto-Italic *-trom

Proto-Italic *monestrom

Latin mōnstrum

Inherited from Proto-Italic *monestrom. By surface analysis, moneō (“advise, warn”) + -trum (suffix forming instrument nouns).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈmõː.strũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈmɔn.strum]

Noun

mōnstrum n (genitive mōnstrī); second declension

1. (fantasy, mythology) a divine omen indicating misfortune, an evil omen, portent
2. (metonymic) a monster, monstrosity, whether in size or character
   • 166 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Andria 249–251:

     PAMPHILUS: Nisi sī id est quod suspicor: / aliquid mōnstrī alunt; ea quoniam nēminī obtrūdī potest, / ītur ad mē!

     PAMPHILUS: Unless it’s what I suspect: they’re raising some kind of monster — and since she can’t be foisted off on anyone, they’re coming to me!
     (In other words, Pamphilus assumes — to comical extreme — the very worst of the woman he’s been arranged to marry.)

   • 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 2.244–245:

     “Īnstāmus tamen inmemorēs caecīque furōre,
     et mōnstrum īnfēlīx sacrātā sistimus arce.”

     “We press on nevertheless, heedless, and blinded by passion, and we set the accursed monster on our sacred citadel.”
     (Despite repeated difficulties and multiple warning signs the Trojans move the wooden horse into the city.)

3. (figuratively) a thing that evokes fear and wonder

   Synonyms: ostentum, prōdigium, portentum, mīrāculum, mīrum

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	mōnstrum	mōnstra
genitive	mōnstrī	mōnstrōrum
dative	mōnstrō	mōnstrīs
accusative	mōnstrum	mōnstra
ablative	mōnstrō	mōnstrīs
vocative	mōnstrum	mōnstra

Derived terms

• mōnstrō
• mōnstrōsus/ mōnstruōsus
• mostellum

Descendants

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • >? Italian: mostro

Borrowings:

• → Catalan: monstre
• → Esperanto: monstro
• → Galician: monstro
• → Italian: monstro
• → Old French: monstre (see there for further descendants)
• → Portuguese: monstro
• → Spanish: monstruo
• → Albanian: mostër, moshtrë, monstër

References

• “monstrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “monstrum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "monstrum", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “monstrum”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 387
• Ranjan Sen (2012), “Reconstructing phonological change: duration and syllable structure in Latin vowel reduction”, in Phonology‎^[1], volume 29, number 3, →DOI, →ISSN, page 36
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • (ambiguous) extravagant fictions of fancy: opinionum commenta, ineptiae, monstra, portenta
    
  • (ambiguous) marvellous ideas; prodigies: monstra or portenta
    
  • (ambiguous) it is incredible: monstra dicis, narras
    

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *men-

Proto-Indo-European *-yeti

Proto-Indo-European *-éyeti

Proto-Indo-European *monéyeti

Proto-Italic *man-eje-

Proto-Italic *moneō

Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr

Proto-Indo-European *-om

Proto-Indo-European *-trom

Proto-Italic *-trom

Proto-Italic *monestrom

Latin mōnstrumlbor.

Polish monstrum

Learned borrowing from Latin mōnstrum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔn.strum/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔnstrum
• Syllabification: mon‧strum

Noun

monstrum n

1. monster (terrifying and dangerous creature)

Declension

Declension of monstrum

	singular	plural
nominative	monstrum	monstra
genitive	monstrum	monstrów
dative	monstrum	monstrom
accusative	monstrum	monstra
instrumental	monstrum	monstrami
locative	monstrum	monstrach
vocative	monstrum	monstra

Derived terms

adjective

• monstrualny

Related terms

adverb

• monstrualnie

noun

• monstrualność

Further reading

• “monstrum”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[3] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “monstrum”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[4] (in Polish)

Serbo-Croatian

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin mōnstrum.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mǒŋstrum/
• Hyphenation: mon‧strum

Noun

mònstrum m anim (Cyrillic spelling мо̀нструм)

1. monster

   Synonyms: čudovište, nȅmān

Declension

Declension of monstrum

	singular	plural
nominative	monstrum	monstrumi
genitive	monstruma	monstruma
dative	monstrumu	monstrumima
accusative	monstruma	monstrume
vocative	monstrume	monstrumi
locative	monstrumu	monstrumima
instrumental	monstrumom	monstrumima

Further reading

• “monstrum”, in Hrvatski jezični portal [Croatian language portal] (in Serbo-Croatian), 2006–2026