nuntius

Latin

Alternative forms

• nontius, nountius, nūncius

Etymology

• Contracted from noventius, from an obsolete noveō, from novus.
• Others refer it to Proto-Indo-European *new- (“to nod”), same source as Latin *nuō, Ancient Greek νεύω (neúō, “to beckon, nod”) and Old Irish noid (“make known”), though this is rejected by De Vaan.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈnuːn.ti.us/, [ˈnuːn̪t̪iʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈnun.t͡si.us/, [ˈnunt̪͡s̪ius]

Noun

nūntius m (genitive nūntiī or nūntī); second declension

1. a messenger, reporter, courier
2. an envoy, message, report
3. a command, order, injunction
4. (in the plural) news, tidings, information

Declension

Second-declension noun.

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	nūntius	nūntiī
Genitive	nūntiī nūntī1	nūntiōrum
Dative	nūntiō	nūntiīs
Accusative	nūntium	nūntiōs
Ablative	nūntiō	nūntiīs
Vocative	nūntie	nūntiī

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

Related terms

• nūntiō

Descendants

• English: nuncio
• French: nonce
• Italian: nunzio
• Russian: нунций (nuncij)
• Serbo-Croatian: nùncīj, ну̀нцӣј
• Spanish: nuncio

References

• “nuntius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nuntius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nuntius 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)
• nuntius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to separate, be divorced (used of man or woman): nuntium remittere alicui (De Or. 1. 40)