Wiktionary

Maius

See also: maius

Latin

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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  • (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈmai̯.i̯us/, [ˈmäi̯ːʊs̠]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈma.jus/, [ˈmäːjus]
  • Dictionaries or reference works sometimes mark the 'a' in the first syllable with a macron; however, the heavy weight of this syllable was not based on it containing a long vowel /aː/. Rather, this word was pronounced with /ajj/, a short vowel /a/ followed by a geminate consonant /jj/ (alternatively interpreted by some Latinists as /ai̯j/, a diphthong ending in -i̯- followed by the consonant /j/), as usual for Latin words with intervocalic -i-.[1][2]

Etymology 1

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    From Maia, the name or epithet of a goddess. The name may have originally been a native Latin formation from a feminine suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (“great”) that was eventually conflated with Ancient Greek Μαῖα (Maîa, “Maia”), daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes, whose name is derived from μαῖα (maîa, “lady”).

    Adjective

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    Maius (feminine Maia, neuter Maium); first/second-declension adjective

    1. (chiefly with mēnsis (“month”)) of May
    Usage notes
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    In Classical Latin, month names were regularly used as adjectives, generally modifying a case-form of mēnsis m sg (“month”) or of one of the nouns used in the Roman calendar to refer to specific days of the month from which other days were counted: Calendae f pl (“calends”), Nōnae f pl (“nones”), Īdūs f pl (“ides”). However, the masculine noun mēnsis could be omitted by ellipsis, so the masculine singular forms of month names eventually came to be used as proper nouns.[3]

    The accusative plural adjective forms Aprīlīs, Septembrīs, Octōbrīs, Novembrīs, Decembrīs[4] are ambiguous in writing, being spelled identically to the genitive singular forms of the nouns; nevertheless, the use of ablative singular forms in -ī and comparison with the usage of other month names as adjectives supports the interpretation of -is as an accusative plural adjective ending in Classical Latin phrases such as "kalendas Septembris".[5]

    Declension
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    First/second-declension adjective.

    Number Singular Plural
    Case / Gender Masculine Feminine Neuter Masculine Feminine Neuter
    Nominative Maius Maia Maium Maiī Maiae Maia
    Genitive Maiī Maiae Maiī Maiōrum Maiārum Maiōrum
    Dative Maiō Maiō Maiīs
    Accusative Maium Maiam Maium Maiōs Maiās Maia
    Ablative Maiō Maiā Maiō Maiīs
    Vocative Maie Maia Maium Maiī Maiae Maia

    Proper noun

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    Maius m sg (genitive Maiī or Maī); second declension

    1. the month of May, May
    Declension
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    Second-declension noun, singular only.

    Case Singular
    Nominative Maius
    Genitive Maiī
    Maī1
    Dative Maiō
    Accusative Maium
    Ablative Maiō
    Vocative Maī

    1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

    Descendants
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    • Balkan: Romance
      • Aromanian: maiu
    • Italo-Romance:
    • North-Italian:
    • Gallo-Romance:
      • Franco-Provençal: mê
      • Old French: mays
        • Middle French: May
          • French: mai
            • Guianese Creole: mè
            • Haitian Creole: me
            • → English: may
            • → Iranian Persian: مه (me)
            • Louisiana Creole: mê
            • → South Azerbaijani: مه (mə)
            • → Tunisian Arabic: ماي (mēy)
        • Norman: mai, mouai, me
        • Walloon: may
        • → Middle English: May, Mai
          • English: May (see there for further descendants)
          • Scots: Mey
    • Occitano-Romance:
    • Ibero-Romance:
      • Aragonese: mayo
      • Ladino: mayo
      • Old Leonese:
      • Old Galician-Portuguese: mayo
        • Galician: maio
        • Portuguese: maio (see there for further descendants)
      • Spanish: mayo (see there for further descendants)
    • Insular Romance:
    Borrowings
    Unsorted borrowings

    These borrowings are ultimately but perhaps not directly from Latin. They are organized into geographical and language family groups, not by etymology.

    See also
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    References

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    1. ^ W. M. Lindsay (1894) The Latin Language, page 8:
      Cicero wrote ii to express the sound of the second element of an i-diphthong before a vowel (see ch. ii. § 55), e.g. aiio, Maiia, Aiiax (Quint, i. 4. II; Vel. Long. 7.54 K. : et in plerisque Cicero videtur auditu emensus scriptionem, qui et ‘Aiiacem’ et ‘Maiiam’ per duo i scribenda existimavit.
    2. ^ Nishimura, Kanehiro (2011) “Notes on Glide Treatment in Latin Orthography and Phonology: -iciō, servus, aiō”, in Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, volume 124, page 193:
      It is well known that Latin orthography tends to avoid gemination of ⟨i⟩ for two successive i̯-glides [...] The most classic case may be maior 'larger'; its phonological representation is /mai̯i̯or/ [...] the provision of a macron (i.e., māior, as if the vowel were long) in order to display the syllable weight — the way common in a number of grammar books and dictionaries — is utterly misleading in that it disguises the phonological reality. [...] Note also Cicero's preference for [...] "Maiiam" [...] Whatever the original Greek phonetic values of [...] Μαῖα, the glide seems to have at least phonetically filled both the coda of the first syllable and the onset of the second when borrowed into Latin (see Hoenigswald 1949: 394 and Godel 1953: 93).
    3. ^ Karl Gottlob Zumpt (1853) Leonhard Schmitz, Charles Anthon, transl., A Grammar of the Latin Language, 3rd edition, pages 31, 85
    4. ^ Gaeng, Paul A. (1968) An Inquiry into Local Variations in Vulgar Latin: As Reflected in the Vocalism of Christian Inscriptions, page 183
    5. ^ Frost, P. (1861) The Germania and Agricola of Tacitus, page 161
    6. ^ The template Template:R:sq:Schumacher-Matzinger does not use the parameter(s): 
      1=page:213
      Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.      Schumacher, Stefan, Matzinger, Joachim (2013) Die Verben des Altalbanischen: Belegwörterbuch, Vorgeschichte und Etymologie (Albanische Forschungen; 33) (in German), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN

    Further reading

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    • Māius 2 Māius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • “Māius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

    Etymology 2

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    An elliptical form of Maiusdeus (“the great god”, “Jupiter”), from maius (“great”, archaic form of magnus) +‎ deus (“god”).

    Proper noun

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    Maius m sg (genitive Maiī or Maī); second declension

    1. great god (epithet of Jupiter)
    Declension
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    Second-declension noun, singular only.

    Case Singular
    Nominative Maius
    Genitive Maiī
    Maī1
    Dative Maiō
    Accusative Maium
    Ablative Maiō
    Vocative Maī

    1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

    References

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    • “Māius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • “Māius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • Māius 1 Māius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
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