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tenuis

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: Tenuis

English

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Etymology

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Unadapted borrowing from Latin tenuis (“thin, fine; weak”). Doublet of thin.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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tenuis (not comparable)

  1. (linguistics) Of Greek consonants, neither aspirated nor voiced, as [p], [t], [k]
  2. (linguistics) Of obstruents in other languages, not voiced, aspirated, glottalized, or otherwise different in phonation from the prototypical values of the voiceless IPA letters ([p], [t], [k], [f], [θ], [s], [ʃ], etc.).
    • 2016, Malá & Šaffková, editor, ELT Revisited, page 11:
      The superscript equal sign ˭ is here used to denote the Czech tenuis consonant, in this case the plosive [t˭], which lacks aspiration, in order to contrast it with its aspirated counterpart in English [tʰ].

Noun

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tenuis (plural tenues)

  1. (linguistics) A tenuis consonant.
    • 1887, Max Müller, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      The tenuis becomes aspirate in Low-German.
    • 1913, John Morris-Jones, A Welsh grammar, page 184:
      Since the explosive was a tenuis before a consonant we have -p m- and -t n-; these combinations were mutated to mh and nh in the following examples, the voicelessness of the tenuis being retained after its assimilation

Antonyms

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Anagrams

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Latin

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us (“thin”).[1][2][3] Original u-stem adjectives are regularly extended into i-stem ones in Latin, compare gravis, brevis, dulcis, etc.

Pronunciation

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  • (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈtɛ.nu.ɪs]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈtɛː.nu.is]
  • tenvis: (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈtɛn.wɪs]
  • In Classical Latin poetry, the sequence tenu- in this word and its inflections can be pronounced as [tɛn.w] (a heavy syllable and an onset) instead of [tɛ.nu] (two light syllables). This occurs especially, although not exclusively, in contexts where the meter requires it (for example, in forms such as tenuia, which would otherwise have three successive light syllables and so be unusable in dactylic hexameter).

Adjective

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tenuis (neuter tenue, comparative tenuïor, superlative tenuissimus, adverb tenuiter); third-declension two-termination adjective

  1. (of textures or forms) thin, slender, slim, lank; especially:
    Synonyms: exīlis, vēscus
    1. (with anima or umbra) synonym of mānēs, the manes[4]
      • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 2.565–566:
        Nunc animae tenuēs et corpora fūncta sepulcrīs errant, […]
        • 1851 translation by Henry T. Riley, The Fasti &c of Ovid., London: H. G. Bohn, p. 71-72
          Now phantom spirits wander abroad, and bodies that have been committed to the tombs, […]
  2. (of substances) fine, rare, thin; pure, clear, not coarse
    • c. 37 BCE – 30 BCE, Vergilius, Georgicon 2.346–353:
      Quod superest, quaecumque premes virgulta per agros,
      Sparge fimo pingui et multa memor occule terra,
      Aut lapidem bibulum aut squalentis infode conchas;
      Inter enim labentur aquae tenuisque subibit
      Halitus atque animos tollent sata; iamque reperti,
      Qui saxo super atque ingentis pondere testae
      Urgerent; hoc effusos munimen ad imbris,
      Hoc, ubi hiulca siti findit canis aestifer arva.
      • Translation by James B. Greenough
        For the rest, whate'er
        The sets thou plantest in thy fields, thereon
        Strew refuse rich, and with abundant earth
        Take heed to hide them, and dig in withal
        Rough shells or porous stone, for therebetween
        Will water trickle and fine vapour creep,
        And so the plants their drooping spirits raise.
        Aye, and there have been, who with weight of stone
        Or heavy potsherd press them from above;
        This serves for shield in pelting showers, and this
        When the hot dog-star chaps the fields with drought.
  3. weak, feeble, tenuous
    Synonyms: dēbilis, languidus, aeger, frāctus, fessus, īnfirmus, mollis, obnoxius, inops
    Antonyms: praevalēns, fortis, potis, potēns, validus, strēnuus, compos
  4. little, slight, trifling
    Synonyms: parvus, paulus, pusillus
  5. delicate, subtle
    Synonyms: ēlegāns, subtīlis

Declension

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Third-declension two-termination adjective.

singular plural
masc./fem. neuter masc./fem. neuter
nominative tenuis tenue tenuēs tenuïa
genitive tenuis tenuïum
dative tenuī tenuibus
accusative tenuem tenue tenuīs
tenuēs 		tenuïa
ablative tenuī tenuibus
vocative tenuis tenue tenuēs tenuïa

Derived terms

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Descendants

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References

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  1. ^ Walde, Alois; Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1954), “tenuis”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), 3rd edition, volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 666
  2. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959), Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 1069
  3. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008), “tenuis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 613f.
  4. ^ George Hempl (1902), “The Duenos Inscription”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, volume 33 (in English), Boston: Ginn & Company, page 163: “The mānēs were the ‘rare ones’ or the ‘thin ones,’ the ‘spirits’ or ‘shades’ of the dead, otherwise known as animae tenuēs and umbrae tenuēs.”

Further reading

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  • “tenuis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “tenuis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • “tenuis”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • elevated, moderate, plain style: genus dicendi grave or grande, medium, tenue (cf. Or. 5. 20; 6. 21)
    • meagre diet: victus tenuis (Fin. 2. 28. 90)
    • little money: pecunia exigua or tenuis
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