mensis

Latin

Pronunciation

• mēnsis: (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.sis/, [ˈmẽːs̠ɪs̠]
• mēnsis: (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈmen.sis/, [ˈmɛnsis]

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *mēnsis, extended from *mēns, from Proto-Indo-European *mḗh₁n̥s (“moon, month”), probably from *meh₁- (“to measure”), referring to the moon's phases as the measure of time. Cognate with Ancient Greek μήν (mḗn), μήνη (mḗnē), English month, Scots moneth (“month”), Lithuanian mėnesis (“month”), North Frisian muunt (“month”), Saterland Frisian Mound (“month”), Dutch maand (“month”), German Low German Maand, Monat (“month”), German Monat (“month”), Danish måned (“month”), Swedish månad (“month”), Icelandic mánuður (“month”), Armenian ամիս (amis), Old Irish mí, Old Church Slavonic мѣсѧць (měsęcĭ).

Noun

mēnsis m (genitive mēnsis); third declension

1. month

Inflection

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	mēnsis	mēnsēs
Genitive	mēnsis	mēnsium mēnsum
Dative	mēnsī	mēnsibus
Accusative	mēnsem	mēnsēs mēnsīs
Ablative	mēnse	mēnsibus
Vocative	mēnsis	mēnsēs

Despite being an I-stem, this noun has the consonantal accusative singular termination -em and the consonantal ablative singular termination -e.

Derived terms

• mēnstruus
• mēnsuālis

Related terms

• bimēstris
• mēnstrua
• mēnstruālis
• mēnstruō
• sēmēstris
• trimestris

Descendants

• Aromanian: mes
• Asturian: mes
• Catalan: mes
• Dalmatian: mais
• Old French: mois, meis
  • French: mois
  • Norman: mais (Jersey), meis (Guernsey, continental Normandy)
• Friulian: mês
• Istriot: miz
• Italian: mese
• Ladin: meis, mens
• Ligurian: méize
• Occitan: mes
• Old Galician-Portuguese: mes
  • Galician: mes
  • Portuguese: mês
• Romansch: mais
• Sardinian: mese, mesi
• Sicilian: misi
• Spanish: mes
• Venetian: méxe
• Walloon: moes

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Noun

mēnsīs f

1. dative/ablative plural of mēnsa

Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Participle

mēnsīs

1. dative/ablative masculine/feminine/neuter plural of mēnsus

References

• “mensis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mensis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mensis 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)
• mensis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to hold out for four months: obsidionem quattuor menses sustinere
    
  • (ambiguous) the intercalary year (month, day): annus (mensis, dies) intercalaris
    
• “mensis”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “mensis”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin