cinifes

Latin

Alternative forms

• ciniphēs, cynifēs, cyniphēs, cinyfēs, cinyphēs, scinifēs, sciniphēs, scynifēs, scyniphēs, scinyphēs

Etymology

Derived from Ancient Greek κνῖπες (knîpes, plural of κνῑ́ψ (knī́ps, “gnawing insect”)).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈki.ni.feːs/, [ˈkɪnɪfeːs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈt͡ʃi.ni.fes/, [ˈt͡ʃiːnifes]

Noun

cinifēs f pl (genitive cinifum); third declension (Ecclesiastical Latin)

1. stinging insects; gnats
   • c. 347 CE – 420 CE, Jerome, Commentaries on Joel 2.25
   • 399 CE – 419 CE, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, On the Trinity 3.7
   • c. 600 CE – 625 CE, Isidorus Hispalensis, Etymologiae 12.8.14

Inflection

Third-declension noun, plural only.

Case	Plural
Nominative	cinifēs
Genitive	cinifum
Dative	cinifibus
Accusative	cinifēs
Ablative	cinifibus
Vocative	cinifēs

References

• “cinifes”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• cinifes in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• cinifes in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.