Wiktionary

tenuis

See also: Tenuis

English edit

Etymology edit

Unadapted borrowing from Latin tenuis (“thin, fine; weak”). Doublet of thin.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

tenuis (not comparable)

  1. (linguistics) Of Greek consonants, neither aspirated nor voiced, as [p], [t], [k]
  2. (linguistics) Of obstruents in other languages, not voiced, aspirated, glottalized, or otherwise different in phonation from the prototypical values of the voiceless IPA letters ([p], [t], [k], [f], [θ], [s], [ʃ], etc.).
    • 2016, Malá & Šaffková, editor, ELT Revisited, page 11:
      The superscript equal sign ˭ is here used to denote the Czech tenuis consonant, in this case the plosive [t˭], which lacks aspiration, in order to contrast it with its aspirated counterpart in English [tʰ].

Noun edit

tenuis (plural tenues)

  1. (linguistics) A tenuis consonant.
    • 1887, Max Müller, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
      The tenuis becomes aspirate in Low-German.
    • 1913, John Morris-Jones, A Welsh grammar, page 184:
      Since the explosive was a tenuis before a consonant we have -p m- and -t n-; these combinations were mutated to mh and nh in the following examples, the voicelessness of the tenuis being retained after its assimilation

Antonyms edit

Anagrams edit

Latin edit

Etymology edit

Inherited from Proto-Indo-European *ténh₂us (“thin”).[1][2][3] Original u-stem adjective are regularly extended into i-stem ones in Latin, compare gravis, brevis, dulcis, etc.

Pronunciation edit

Adjective edit

tenuis (neuter tenue, comparative tenuior, superlative tenuissimus, adverb tenuiter); third-declension two-termination adjective

  1. thin, fine, slender
  2. weak, feeble
    Synonyms: dēbilis, languidus, aeger, frāctus, fessus, īnfirmus, mollis, obnoxius, inops
    Antonyms: praevalēns, fortis, potis, potēns, validus, strēnuus, compos
  3. slight, trifling
  4. delicate, subtle, watery
  5. (transferred sense) phantom
    • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.565–566:
      nunc animae tenuēs et corpora fūncta sepulcrīs errant
      Now phantom spirits wander abroad, and bodies that have been committed to the tombs
      1851. The Fasti &c of Ovid. Trans. Henry T. Riley. London: H. G. Bohn. pg. 71-72.
    • [1902, George Hempl, “The Duenos Inscription”, in Transactions and Proceedings of the American Philological Association, volume 33 (in English), Boston: Ginn & Company, page 163:
      The mānēs were the ‘rare ones’ or the ‘thin ones,’ the ‘spirits’ or ‘shades’ of the dead, otherwise known as animae tenuēs and umbrae tenuēs.]

Declension edit

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masc./Fem. Neuter Masc./Fem. Neuter
Nominative tenuis tenue tenuēs tenuia
Genitive tenuis tenuium
Dative tenuī tenuibus
Accusative tenuem tenue tenuēs
tenuīs 		tenuia
Ablative tenuī tenuibus
Vocative tenuis tenue tenuēs tenuia

Derived terms edit

Related terms edit

Descendants edit

References edit

  1. ^ Walde, Alois, Hofmann, Johann Baptist (1954) “tenuis”, in Lateinisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), 3rd edition, volume 2, Heidelberg: Carl Winter, page 666
  2. ^ Pokorny, Julius (1959) “tenu-s”, in Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), volume 3, Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 1069
  3. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “tenuis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 613f.

Further reading edit

  • “tenuis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “tenuis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • tenuis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • elevated, moderate, plain style: genus dicendi grave or grande, medium, tenue (cf. Or. 5. 20; 6. 21)
    • meagre diet: victus tenuis (Fin. 2. 28. 90)
    • little money: pecunia exigua or tenuis
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