venenum

Latin

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *weneznom (“lust, desire”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive, wish, love”). See also Sanskrit वनति (vanati, “gain, wish, erotic lust”), Latin Venus, veneror, venia, vēnor and English wish.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /u̯eˈneː.num/, [u̯ɛˈneːnʊ̃ˑ]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /veˈne.num/, [veˈnɛːnum]

Noun

venēnum n (genitive venēnī); second declension

1. a potion, juice
2. poison, venom

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	venēnum	venēna
Genitive	venēnī	venēnōrum
Dative	venēnō	venēnīs
Accusative	venēnum	venēna
Ablative	venēnō	venēnīs
Vocative	venēnum	venēna

Synonyms

• (poison): toxicum (toxicon)

Derived terms

• venēnō

Descendants

• Balkan Romance:
  • Aromanian: virin
  • Romanian: venin
• Istrian:
  • vanen
• Italo-Romance:
  • Italian: veleno
  • Sicilian: vilenu
• Padanian:
  • Emilian: vlen, vlei
  • Friulian: velen
  • Lombard: velen
  • Piedmontese: velen
  • Romagnol: vlèin, vlòin, vlei
  • Venetian: vełen, velen, verin
• Northern Gallo-Romance:
  • Old French: venim, venin
    • French: venin
    • → Middle English: venym
      • English: venom
• Southern Gallo-Romance:
  • Aragonese: vereno
  • Catalan: verí
  • Occitan: veren, verin

    Gascon: venim, verim, vrim

• Ibero-Romance;
  • Asturian: venenu, benin
  • Galician: veleno
  • Old Spanish: venino
  • Spanish: veneno
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: belenu, benenu, velenu, ferenu, felenu
• → Albanian: vrer, vrerë
• → Dutch: venijn
• → English: venene
• → Proto-Brythonic: *gwenuɨn (see there for further descendants)
• → Portuguese: veneno (learned)

References

• “venenum”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “venenum”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• venenum in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to give a person poison in bread: dare venenum in pane
    
  • to take poison: venenum sumere, bibere
    
  • (ambiguous) to poison oneself: veneno sibi mortem consciscere