abnuo
Latin edit
Alternative forms edit
Etymology edit
From ab- (“from, away from”) + *nuō (“nod”), literally “to reject by a nod”.
Pronunciation edit
- (Classical) IPA(key): /ˈab.nu.oː/, [ˈäbnuoː]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈab.nu.o/, [ˈäbnuo]
Verb edit
abnuō (present infinitive abnuere, perfect active abnuī, supine abnuitum); third conjugation
- (literally, rare, often in conjuction with adnuō) to say no, to nod in negation
- c. 189 BCE, Plautus, Truculentus prol.4–6:
- Quid nunc? Datūrīn estis an nōn? Annuont.
[…]
Quid sī dē vostrō quippiam ōrem? Abnuont.- Well then? Are you going to give it or not? They nod in approval.
[…]
What if I asked for something of yours? They nod in disapproval.
- Well then? Are you going to give it or not? They nod in approval.
- Quid nunc? Datūrīn estis an nōn? Annuont.
- 8 CE – 12 CE, Ovid, Sorrows 5.10.41–42:
- Utque fit, in sē aliquid fingī, dīcentibus illīs
abnuerim quotiēns adnuerimque, putant.- Either way, they think I'm inventing something about them, whenever they speak
and I nod in negation and affirmation.
- Either way, they think I'm inventing something about them, whenever they speak
- Utque fit, in sē aliquid fingī, dīcentibus illīs
- to refuse, reject
- 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 10.10.8:
- Dē societāte haud abnuunt barbarī: dē mercēde agitur.
- The barbarians refuse not an alliance: it's all about remuneration.
- Dē societāte haud abnuunt barbarī: dē mercēde agitur.
- 248 CE – 258 CE, Cyprian, Letters 65.3 in Corpus Vindobonense (volume III, part 2), Franz Pauly, Vienna (1871), page 724, lines 3–4:
- Nec mīrum sī cōnsilia nostra aut Dominī praecepta nunc abnuunt quī Dominum negāvērunt.
- No wonder that those who denied the Lord now reject our decisions or the Lord's teachings.
- (poetic or post-classical, chiefly of inanimate subjects) to not admit of
- (military, very rare) to decline service
- 27 BCE – 25 BCE, Titus Livius, Ab Urbe Condita 27.49.3:
- Ille fessōs abnuentēsque taediō et labōre nunc precandō, nunc castigandō accendit.
- It was he who, now by entreaties, now by chastising, stimulated the soldiers, tired and declining service due to weariness and difficulty.
- Ille fessōs abnuentēsque taediō et labōre nunc precandō, nunc castigandō accendit.
- to deny
- c. 77 CE – 79 CE, Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 10.70.137:
- Quī crēdat ista, et Melampodī profectō augurī aurēs lambendō dedisse intellēctum avium sermōnis dracōnes nōn abnuat.
- Anyone who would believe these would also surely not deny that serpents gave Melampus the augur the understanding of bird language by means of licking his ears.
- Quī crēdat ista, et Melampodī profectō augurī aurēs lambendō dedisse intellēctum avium sermōnis dracōnes nōn abnuat.
- c. 310 CE, Lactantius, Divinarum Institutionum Epitome 31 (36) in Corpus Vindobonense (volume IXX), Samuel Brandt, Vienna (1890), page 706, lines 10–12:
- Epicūrī doctrīna haec est inprīmīs, nullam esse prōvidentiam, et īdem deōs esse nōn abnuit: utrumque contrā ratiōnem.
- Chiefly, the doctrine of Epicurus is that there is no Providence, and he also denies not the existence of gods: both go against reason.
- Epicūrī doctrīna haec est inprīmīs, nullam esse prōvidentiam, et īdem deōs esse nōn abnuit: utrumque contrā ratiōnem.
Usage notes edit
The figurative meaning has almost completely overtaken the literal one.
The word is a favourite of Livy and Tacitus. Older authors prefer the negative formula “haud abnuō”, while authors after the time of Tacitus use “nōn abnuō”.
Conjugation edit
Derived terms edit
Descendants edit
References edit
- “abnuo”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “abnuo”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- abnuo in Enrico Olivetti, editor (2003-2024), Dizionario Latino, Olivetti Media Communication
- abnuo in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- “abnuō” in volume 1, column 112, line 52 in the Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL Open Access), Berlin (formerly Leipzig): De Gruyter (formerly Teubner), 1900–present