Rhenus

Latin

Etymology

Borrowed from Gaulish *Rēnos (Proto-Celtic *rēnos), built on Proto-Indo-European *h₃reyH- (“to flow”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈreː.nus/, [ˈreːnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈre.nus/, [ˈrɛːnus]

Proper noun

Rhēnus m sg (genitive Rhēnī); second declension

1. Rhine (a river).
   • Tacitus, Gemanica, chapter 1 (Oxford revised translation)

     Germania omnis a Gallis Rhaetisque et Pannoniis Rheno et Danubio fluminibus.

     Germany is separated from Gaul, Rhaetia, and Pannonia, by the rivers Rhine and Danube.

2. Reno (a river in Italy).

Declension

Second-declension noun, singular only.

Case	Singular
Nominative	Rhēnus
Genitive	Rhēnī
Dative	Rhēnō
Accusative	Rhēnum
Ablative	Rhēnō
Vocative	Rhēne

Derived terms

• Rhēnānus
• Rhēnō-Trāiectīnus
• Trāiectum ad Rhēnum

 

Related terms

• Rhēnānia

Descendants

• Italian: Reno
• Old Occitan: Ren
  • Catalan: Ren (archaic)
  • Occitan: Ren
• → Polish: Ren
• Romansch: Rain, Ragn, Rein

References

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