tenebrae

See also: Tenebrae

Latin

Etymology 1

With regressive dissimilation (*m-b > n-b) from *temabrāi,^[1] nominalized feminine plural from Proto-Italic *temazros (“dark”), from Proto-Indo-European *temH-(e)s-ro-, from *témHos. Related to temere.^[2]^[3]

Pronunciation

(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈtɛ.nɛ.brae̯]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈtɛː.ne.bre]
(Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [tɛˈnɛb.rae̯]
(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [teˈnɛb.re]

Noun

tenebrae f pl (genitive tenebrārum); first declension

darkness, especially the darkness of night
Antonym: lūx
- c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Hieronymus, Vulgate Genesis.1.2:
  Terra autem erat inanis et vacua et tenebrae super faciem abyssi et spiritus Dei ferebatur super aquas.
  And the earth was void and empty, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the spirit of God moved over the waters.
(poetic) shadow of death
prison, dungeon
Synonym: carcer
(by extension) gloom or darkness of the mind
(Medieval Latin) pervasive artistic, cultural, intellectual, moral, or spiritual benightedness
- 1359, Franciscus Petrarca, “Franciscus Petrarca Agapito de Columna S. P. D.: Ægre fert incusari se ob partas divitias amicorum oblivione captum insolescere.” (epistola VIII, pages 28–34), in Josephus Fracassettus, editor, Epistolæ de Rebus Familiaribus et Variæ, volume III, Florentia: Felix Le Monnier, published 1863, book XX, pages 30–31:
  Quamquam si illustres ævi nostri viros attigissem, non dicam te, ne tibi, quod placatus non soleo, iratus adulari videar, at certe nec patruum, nec patrem tuum silentio oppressurus fuerim. Nolui autem pro tam paucis nominibus claris, tam procul tantasque per tenebras stilum ferre: ideoque vel materiæ vel labori parcens, longe ante hoc sæculum historiæ limitem statui ac defixi.
  And yet had I touched upon illustrious men of our time, I will not say that I should have introduced your name (lest in my present anger I should seem to flatter you, a thing which is not my habit even when well disposed), but most assuredly I should not have passed over in silence either your uncle or your father. I did not wish for the sake of so few famous names, however, to guide my pen so far and through such darkness. Therefore sparing myself the excess both of subject-matter and of effort, I have determined to fix a limit to my history long before this century.
  • 1942 translation by Theodor Ernst Mommsen^[1]

Declension

First-declension noun, plural only.

	plural
nominative	tenebrae
genitive	tenebrārum
dative	tenebrīs
accusative	tenebrās
ablative	tenebrīs
vocative	tenebrae

The singular (tenebra) is marginally attested in Classical Latin. The editors of L&S cite only two attestations, in Apuleius' Metamorphoses and in the so-called Lampridius's Commodus book of the Historia Augusta. (It is somewhat less rare from Medieval and later Latin.)

Related terms

Descendants

Italo-Dalmatian:
- Istriot: tienabre
- Italian: tenebre
Ibero-Romance:
- Old Galician-Portuguese: tẽevras
  - Galician: tebras
  - Portuguese: trevas
- Spanish: tinieblas
Borrowings:
- → Catalan: tenebres
- → French: ténèbres
  - → Romanian: tenebră
- → Ido: tenebro
- →⇒ English: tenebrism

References

^ Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 214
^ 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 612
^ Sen, Ranjan (2006), “Vowel-weakening Before Muta cum Liquidā Sequences in Latin”, in Kölligan, Daniel, Sen, Ranjan, editors, Oxford University Working Papers in Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics, volume 11, pages 154-155

“tenebrae”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“tenebrae”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
"tenebrae", 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)
“tenebrae”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.

Etymology 2

Noun

tenebrae m

inflection of tenebra:
1. genitive/dative singular
2. nominative/vocative plural

[1] Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 214

[2] 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 612

[3] Sen, Ranjan (2006), “Vowel-weakening Before Muta cum Liquidā Sequences in Latin”, in Kölligan, Daniel, Sen, Ranjan, editors, Oxford University Working Papers in Linguistics, Philology & Phonetics, volume 11, pages 154-155

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