octennium

English

Etymology

From Late Latin octennium, from octennis (“8-year”) + -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).

Noun

octennium (plural octenniums or octennia)

1. (rare) An eight-year period.

   Coordinate terms: annum, biennium, triennium, quadrennium, quinquennium, sexennium, septennium, novennium, decennium, centennium, vicennium, tricennium, quincentennium, millennium, decamillennium, centimillennium, millionennium

Synonyms

• octaeteris, octennial

Hypernyms

• See octet

Related terms

• (adj.): octennial, octaeteric

References

• “octennial, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2022.

Anagrams

• emunction

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ɔkˈtɛn.ni.ũː]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [okˈtɛn.ni.um]

Etymology 1

From octennis +‎ -ium (suffix forming abstract nouns).

Noun

octennium n (genitive octenniī); second declension

1. (Late Latin) a period of eight years, novennium
   • c. 431 CE, Macrobius, Saturnalia 1.13.11-13:

     Hunc ergo ordinem Romanis quoque imitari placuit: sed frustra, quippe fugit eos diem unum, sicut supra ammonuimus, additum a se ad Graecum numerum in honorem inparis numeri. Ea re per octennium convenire numeri †que ordo non poterat. Sed nondum hoc errore conperto† octo annos nonaginta quasi superfundendos Graecorum exemplo, conputabant dies, alternisque annis binos et vicenos, alternis ternos vicenosque intercalantes expensabant intercalationibus quattuor. Sed octavo quoque anno intercalares octo affluebant dies ex singulis quibus vertentis anni numerum apud Romanos super Graecum abundasse iam diximus. Hoc quoque errore iam cognito haec species emendationis inducta est. Tertio quoque octennio ita intercalandos dispensabant dies, ut non nonaginta sed sexaginta sex intercalarent, conpensatis viginti et quattuor diebus pro illis qui per totidem annos supra Graecorum numerum creverant.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	octennium	octennia
genitive	octenniī	octenniōrum
dative	octenniō	octenniīs
accusative	octennium	octennia
ablative	octenniō	octenniīs
vocative	octennium	octennia

Coordinate terms

• (2-year period): biennium
• (3-year period): triennium
• (4-year period): quadriennium
• (5-year period): quīnquennium
• (6-year period): sexennium
• (7-year period): septuennium
• (9-year period): novennium
• (10-year period): decennium

Descendants

• → English: octennium

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Adjective

octennium

1. genitive masculine/feminine/neuter plural of octennis

Further reading

• “octennium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “octennium”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.