conticinium

Latin

Alternative forms

• conticium, conticinnum, conticuum

Etymology

From conticeō (“be silent”) or conticīscō (“become still”) +‎ -ium. The second -n- is by analogy with the coordinate term gallicinium (“cockcrow, daybreak”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /kon.tiˈki.ni.um/, [kɔn̪t̪ɪˈkɪniʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /kon.tiˈt͡ʃi.ni.um/, [kon̪t̪iˈt͡ʃiːnium]

Noun

conticinium n (genitive conticiniī or conticinī); second declension

1. The period of the late evening when animals cease to make noise.

Usage notes

In Bede et al., a particular period of night following the appearance of the stars at vespers and before intempestum (“midnight”).

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	conticinium	conticinia
genitive	conticiniī conticinī1	conticiniōrum
dative	conticiniō	conticiniīs
accusative	conticinium	conticinia
ablative	conticiniō	conticiniīs
vocative	conticinium	conticinia

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

Hypernyms

• nox

References

• “conticinium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• conticinium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• "Anglo-Saxon Manual of Astronomy", p. 6, in Popular Treatises on Science Written during the Middle Ages (1841), London: Historical Society of Science.