asinus

Latin

Etymology

Usually compared to Ancient Greek ὄνος (ónos) (which cannot be its direct ancestor), and, just like other IE words for "ass", must be traced back to an unknown substrate source in Asia Minor (compare Hieroglyphic Luwian [script needed] (tarkasna), Sumerian 𒀲 (anšu)). The lack of rhotacism of the single intervocalic -s- after a short vowel would point to a recent borrowing.

Pronunciation

(Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.si.nus/, [ˈäs̠ɪnʊs̠]

(modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.si.nus/, [ˈäːs̬inus]

Noun

asinus m (genitive asinī); second declension

a donkey, an ass
(figuratively, humorous, derogatory) an ass, cretin, idiot, dolt, blockhead (a slow-witted, inept person)
- c. 191 BCE, Plautus, Pseudolus, act 1, scene 2:
  Neque egō hominēs magis asinōs umquam vīdī […] quōs quom feriās, tibi plūs noceās.
  I've never seen human beings who were more like asses […] When you hit them, you hurt yourself more.
- 160 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Adelphoe :
  Quid tū autem huic, asine, auscultās?
  And why are you listening to him, you dolt?
- c. 70 BCE, Cicero, In Pisonem, chapter 73:
  Quid nunc tē, asine, litterās doceam? Nōn opus est verbīs, sed fustibus.
  Must I now teach an ass like you to read? What you need isn't words but a cudgeling.

Declension

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

Synonyms

iūmentum (esp. used to pull carts)
onager, onagrus (the wild ass)

Derived terms

asellus
asina
asinārius
asinīnus
asinusca
asinus asinum fricat
asinus ad lyram
asinus in tegulīs
pōns asinōrum
quī asinum nōn potest, strātum caedit
sepultūrā asinī sepeliētur

Descendants

Eastern Romance:
- Romanian: asin, asân
Insular Romance:
- Sardinian: àinu
Italo-Dalmatian:
- Corsican: asinu
- Italian: asino
- Sicilian: àsinu
Western Romance:
- Gallo-Italian:
  - Emilian: esen, az, ase, aso
  - Lombard: asen, asne
  - Ligurian: âze
  - Piedmontese: aso, asi
  - Venetian: axèno
- Gallo-Romance:
  - Old Franco-Provençal: asno
    - Franco-Provençal: âno
  - Old French: asne
    - Middle French: asne
      - French: âne
    - Norman: âne
    - Walloon: ågne
    - → Old Norse: asni (see there for further descendants)
- Ibero-Romance:
  - Old Galician-Portuguese: asno
    - Galician: asno
    - Portuguese: asno
  - Old Spanish: asno
    - Spanish: asno
      - → Cebuano: asno
      - → Classical Nahuatl: axnoh
      - → Tagalog: asno
- Occitano-Romance:
  - Catalan: ase
  - Old Occitan: asne
    - Occitan: ase
    - Gascon: aso, aine
    - Limousin: asne
    - Provençal: ai
- Rhaeto-Romance:
- Romansch: asen, asan, esan
→ Proto-Celtic:
- Proto-Brythonic:
  - Breton: azen
  - Old Cornish: asen
  - Welsh: asyn, asen
- Old Irish: asan
  - Middle Irish: asan, assan
- → Old English: assen, assa
  - Middle English: as, ass, asse
    - English: ass
→ Samoan: asini

Adjective

asinus (feminine asina, neuter asinum); first/second-declension adjective

(relational) ass, donkey
stupid, asinine

Declension

Lua error in Module:utilities at line 142: attempt to perform arithmetic on local 'h' (a nil value)

References

“asinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
“asinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
asinus 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)
asinus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 57

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