pignus

Latin

Etymology

Some refer it to Proto-Indo-European *peyǵ- or *peyḱ-; others refer it to Proto-Indo-European *peh₂ǵ- (“to fasten, fix”); its meaning perhaps being "something pinned/fixed/retained (as pledge)".

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpiɡ.nus/, [ˈpɪŋnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpiɲ.ɲus/, [ˈpiɲːus]

Noun

pignus n (genitive pignoris); third declension

1. pledge, mortgage

   Synonyms: vōtum, fīdūcia

2. hostage
3. wager, stake

# child

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, imparisyllabic non-i-stem).

	singular	plural
nominative	pignus	pignora
genitive	pignoris	pignorum
dative	pignorī	pignoribus
accusative	pignus	pignora
ablative	pignore	pignoribus
vocative	pignus	pignora

Derived terms

• pignerō

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: pegno
  • Sicilian: pignu
• Gallo-Italic:
  • Piedmontese: pegn
• Gallo-Romance:
  • Old Occitan: penh
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Old Galician-Portuguese: pennor
    • Portuguese: penhor
  • Old Spanish: peños; pendra (< *pignora)
    • Spanish: peño; prenda
      • → Portuguese: prenda
• Borrowings:
  • → Albanian: peng
  • → English: pignus

References

• “pignus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “pignus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "pignus", 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)
• pignus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “pignus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “pignus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin