aequinoctium

Latin

Alternative forms

• ēquinoxium, ēquinoctium (Medieval Latin)

Etymology

From aequus +‎ nox +‎ -ium.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ae̯.kʷiˈnok.ti.um/, [äe̯kʷɪˈnɔkt̪iʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /e.kwiˈnok.t͡si.um/, [ekwiˈnɔkt̪͡s̪ium]

Noun

aequinoctium n (genitive aequinoctiī or aequinoctī); second declension

1. equinox

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	aequinoctium	aequinoctia
Genitive	aequinoctiī aequinoctī1	aequinoctiōrum
Dative	aequinoctiō	aequinoctiīs
Accusative	aequinoctium	aequinoctia
Ablative	aequinoctiō	aequinoctiīs
Vocative	aequinoctium	aequinoctia

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

Derived terms

• aequinoctiālis

Descendants

• Italian: equinozio
• Old French: equinoce, equinoxe
  • French: équinoxe
  • → Middle English: equinox, equynox, equynoxe
    • English: equinox
• Portuguese: equinócio
• Spanish: equinoccio
• → Middle English: equinoccium, equinoxium, equenoxium (learned)
• → German: Äquinoktium (learned)
• → Middle Low German: equenoxium (learned)
• → Proto-West Germanic: *ebnanaht (see there for further descendants)
• → Irish: cónocht
• → Romanian: echinocțiu

References

• “aequinoctium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “aequinoctium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• aequinoctium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “aequinoctium”, in William Smith, editor (1854, 1857), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography, volume 1 & 2, London: Walton and Maberly
• “aequinoctium”, in Richard Stillwell et al., editor (1976), The Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press