ens

See also: ENS, Ens., -ens, -eņš, and -ēns

English

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈɛnz/

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɛnz

Etymology 1

From Late Latin ēns (“thing”), from esse (“to be”). See entity.

Noun

ens (plural enses or entia)

1. (philosophy) An entity or being; an existing thing, as opposed to a quality or attribute.
   • 1791, Erasmus Darwin, The Economy of Vegetation, J. Johnson, p. 41:

     Forms sphered in fire with trembling light array'd, / Ens without weight, and substance without shade […] .

   • 1860, John Henry Macmahon, A treatise on metaphysics: chiefly in reference to revealed religion, page 195:

     the Nature of the Supreme Ens

2. (chemistry, alchemy, now historical) Something supposed to condense within itself all the virtues and qualities of a substance from which it is extracted; an essence, an active principle.
   • 2006, Philip Ball, The Devil's Doctor, Arrow 2007, p. 245:

     Here he states that there are five ‘active principles’ – the five Enses or entia – that influence our bodies and give rise to disease […]

Derived terms

• ens entium
• ens reale

 

Etymology 2

Inflected forms.

Noun

ens

1. plural of en

Anagrams

• ESN, NES, SEN, SNe, Sen, Sen., sen

Catalan

Etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /əns/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /ens/

Pronoun

ens (proclitic, enclitic nos, contracted enclitic 'ns)

1. us (direct or indirect object)

Usage notes

• ens is the reinforced (reforçada) form of the pronoun. It is used before verbs.

  Ens visiten. ― They visit us.

Declension

Catalan personal pronouns and clitics

	strong/subject	weak (direct object)		weak (indirect object)		possessive
singular		proclitic	enclitic	proclitic	enclitic
1st person	jo, mi3	em, m’	-me, ’m	em, m’	-me, ’m	meu
1st person majestic1	nós	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	tu	et, t’	-te, ’t	et, t’	-te, ’t	teu
2nd person formal1	vós	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person very formal2	vostè	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person masculine	ell	el, l’	-lo, ’l	li	-li	seu
3rd person feminine	ella	la, l’4	-la	li	-li	seu
3rd person neuter		ho	-ho	li	-li	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
plural
1st person	nosaltres	ens	-nos, ’ns	ens	-nos, ’ns	nostre
2nd person	vosaltres	us	-vos, -us	us	-vos, -us	vostre
2nd person formal2	vostès	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person masculine	ells	els	-los, ’ls	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person feminine	elles	les	-les	els	-los, ’ls	seu
3rd person reflexive	si	es, s’	-se, ’s	es, s’	-se, ’s	seu
adverbial
ablative/genitive		en, n’	-ne, ’n
locative		hi	-hi
1) Behaves grammatically as plural. 2) Behaves grammatically as third person.			3) Only as object of a preposition. 4) Not before unstressed (h)i-, (h)u-.

Etymology 2

From Latin ēns (“being”); compare Spanish ente.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central, Valencian) IPA^(key): /ˈɛns/

Noun

ens m (plural ens)

1. organization, entity, institution

   ens públic

   public institution

Danish

Etymology

From Old Norse eins, from Middle Low German eines.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /eːns/, [eːˀns]

Adjective

ens

1. identical
2. alike

Pronoun

ens

1. genitive of en

Latin

Etymology

Formed as a present participle of sum (“to be”) in Medieval Latin (and therefore unknown in the Classical period) by using the bare present participial ending -ēns of second and third conjugation verbs, as an analogy to the Ancient Greek present participle ὤν (ṓn) which falsely appears to be the same bare suffix but etymologically corresponds to sōns, both from *h₁es- (“to be”). See also essentia for a similar formation.

The original present participle sōns had taken on the meaning "guilty" in the Classical period, but the still productive combining form -sēns present in the verbs absum (absēns (“absent”)) and praesum (praesēns (“present”)) was ignored in creating this form.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ens/, [ẽːs̠]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ens/, [ɛns]

Noun

ēns n (genitive entis); third declension

1. (Medieval Latin) being
   • 13th c., Boetius of Dacia

     Ens autem aeternum nullum sequitur in duratione; ergo mundus non est aeternus. - Nothing follows the Eternal Being (God) in duration; therefore, the world isn't eternal.

2. essence
3. existence

Declension

Third-declension noun (neuter, “pure” i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	ēns	entia
Genitive	entis	entium
Dative	entī	entibus
Accusative	ēns	entia
Ablative	entī	entibus
Vocative	ēns	entia

Descendants

• Albanian: ent
• Italian: ente
• Portuguese: ente
• Spanish: ente

Participle

ēns (genitive entis); third-declension one-termination participle

1. being

Declension

Third-declension participle.

Number	Singular			Plural
Case / Gender	Masc./Fem.	Neuter		Masc./Fem.	Neuter
Nominative	ēns			entēs	entia
Genitive	entis			entium
Dative	entī			entibus
Accusative	entem	ēns		entēs entīs	entia
Ablative	ente entī1			entibus
Vocative	ēns			entēs	entia

¹When used purely as an adjective.

Derived terms

• entitās (Mediaeval Latin)

References

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

Middle English

Adverb

ens

1. Alternative form of enes

Middle French

Etymology

From Old French ens.

Preposition

ens

1. in; inside

Mòcheno

Etymology

From Middle High German uns, from Old High German uns, from Proto-Germanic *uns, from Proto-Indo-European *n̥smé. Cognate with German uns, English us; also Ancient Greek ἡμεῖς (hēmeîs), Sanskrit अस्मान् (asmān), Old Irish ar.

Pronoun

ens

1. accusative of biar: us

References

• “ens” in Cimbrian, Ladin, Mòcheno: Getting to know 3 peoples. 2015. Servizio minoranze linguistiche locali della Provincia autonoma di Trento, Trento, Italy.

Old French

Alternative forms

• enz

Etymology

From Latin intus.

Preposition

ens

1. in; inside

Synonyms

• dedens

Descendants

• Middle French: ens

Swedish

Adverb

ens

1. even (negatively comparatively as in not even..., did you even [bother to]...)

   Var du ens född då?

   Were you even born then?

Derived terms

• inte ens (“not even...”)

Noun

ens

1. indefinite genitive singular of en.
2. alignment (cf. ensa, enslinje)

Derived terms

• med ens (“at once”)
• enslinje (“transit”)
• ensa

Pronoun

ens

1. genitive of the indefinite pronoun "man"; one's

Declension

Swedish personal pronouns

Number	Person	Type	Nominative	Oblique	Possessive
					common	neuter	plural
singular	first	—	jag	mig, mej3	min	mitt	mina
	second	—	du	dig, dej3	din	ditt	dina
	third	masculine (person)	han	honom, han2, en5	hans
		feminine (person)	hon	henne, na5	hennes
		gender-neutral (person)1	hen	hen, henom7	hens
		common (noun)	den	den	dess
		neuter (noun)	det	det	dess
		indefinite	man or en4	en	ens
		reflexive	—	sig, sej3	sin	sitt	sina
plural	first	—	vi	oss	vår, våran2	vårt, vårat2	våra
	second	—	ni	er	er, eran2, ers6	ert, erat2	era
		archaic	I	eder	eder, eders6	edert	edra
	third	—	de, dom3	dem, dom3	deras
		reflexive	—	sig, sej3	sin	sitt	sina

¹Neologism. Usage has increased since 2010, and has gained widespread acceptance today.

²Informal

³Colloquial pronunciation spelling.

⁴Dialectal, also used lately as an alternative to man, to avoid association to the male gender.

⁵Informal, somewhat dialectal

⁶Formal address

⁷Discouraged by the Swedish Language Council

Anagrams

• sen, sne