insidiae

Latin

Etymology

From īnsideō (“to sit in, upon”).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /inˈsi.di.ae̯/, [ĩːˈs̠ɪd̪iäe̯]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /inˈsi.di.e/, [inˈsiːd̪ie]

Noun

īnsidiae f pl (genitive īnsidiārum); first declension

1. (usually in the plural) ambush
   • c. 191 BCE, Plautus, Pseudolus 4.4.9-10:

     Occasionem repperisti, verbero,
     ubi perconteris me, insidiis hostilibus

     You have found an opportunity, scoundrel, when you question me amid hostile ambush

2. (usually in the plural) artifice, plot, snare
   • c. 100 CE – 110 CE, Tacitus, Histories 4.16:

     ubi insidiae parum cessere, ad vim transgressus Canninefatis, Frisios, Batavos propriis cuneis componit

     • Translation by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb

       When stratagem proved ineffectual, he resorted to force, arranging in distinct columns the Canninefates, the Batavians, and the Frisii.

Declension

First-declension noun, plural only.

Case	Plural
Nominative	īnsidiae
Genitive	īnsidiārum
Dative	īnsidiīs
Accusative	īnsidiās
Ablative	īnsidiīs
Vocative	īnsidiae

Derived terms

• īnsidiōsus

References

• “insidiae”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “insidiae”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• insidiae 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)
• insidiae in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.