tenebra

Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin tenebra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Northern) [təˈne̞.βɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic) [təˈne.bɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Central) [təˈne.βɾə]
• IPA^(key): (Valencia) [teˈne.bɾa]
• IPA^(key): (Northwestern) [teˈne.βɾa]

• Audio (Barcelona):

  (file)

Noun

tenebra f (plural tenebres)

1. profound darkness

   L'autèntic drama no habita en el cor de les tenebres, sinó en les tenebres del cor.

   Authentic drama doesn't reside in the heart of darkness but in the darkness of the heart.

2. (in the plural, Christianity) Tenebrae (Holy Week religious service)

Usage notes

• Used especially in the plural

Further reading

• “tenebra”, in Diccionari de la llengua catalana [Dictionary of the Catalan Language] (in Catalan), second edition, Institute of Catalan Studies [Catalan: Institut d'Estudis Catalans], April 2007
• Alcover, Antoni Maria; Moll, Francesc de Borja (1963), “tenebra”, in Diccionari català-valencià-balear (in Catalan)

Italian

Etymology

From Latin tenebra.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈtɛ.ne.bra/
• Rhymes: -ɛnebra
• Hyphenation: tè‧ne‧bra

Noun

tenebra f (plural tenebre)

1. (usually in the plural) darkness, gloom, night

Anagrams

• nerbate

Latin

Etymology

Arose by dissimilation from earlier *temebrai, arisen from Proto-Italic *temasro, from Proto-Indo-European *temH-s-ro (“dark”), a derivation from Proto-Indo-European *temH- (“dark”); cognate with Sanskrit तमिस्र (tamisra), Avestan 𐬙𐬄𐬚𐬭𐬀 (tąθra), Middle Persian [script needed] (tʾr /⁠tār⁠/, “darkness”), Ossetian тар (tar), and Old Church Slavonic тьмьнъ (tĭmĭnŭ).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈtɛ.nɛ.bra]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈtɛː.ne.bra]

Noun

tenebra f (genitive tenebrae); first declension

1. singular of tenebrae (“darkness, shadow; ignorance; concealment”)

Usage notes

• See tenebrae.

Declension

First-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	tenebra	tenebrae
genitive	tenebrae	tenebrārum
dative	tenebrae	tenebrīs
accusative	tenebram	tenebrās
ablative	tenebrā	tenebrīs
vocative	tenebra	tenebrae

Descendants

• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: tenebra
• Ibero-Romance:
  • Asturian: tiniebla, ⇒ tenebréu
  • Galician: tebra
  • Portuguese: treva
  • Old Spanish: tiniebra
    • Spanish: tiniebla
• Eastern-Romance:
  • Romanian: întuneric
• Borrowings:
  • → Catalan: tenebra
  • → French: ténèbres
    • → Romanian: tenebră
  • → English: tenebrose, tenebrous
  • → Portuguese: tênebra

References

• “tenebra”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• tenebra in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “tenebrae”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 512