senex

== English == === Etymology === From Latin senex. === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈsɛnɛks/ === Noun === senex (plural senexes) An older or old man, chiefly as a stock character. === References === “senex, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000. === Further reading === wise old man on Wikipedia.Wikipedia == Latin == === Etymology === From Proto-Italic *seneks, from Proto-Indo-European *sénos (“old”). Cognates include Lithuanian senis (“old man”), Ancient Greek ἕνος (hénos), Old Irish sen, Proto-Brythonic *hen, Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬥𐬀 (hana, “old”), Sanskrit सन (sána) and Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌽𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃 (sineigs). The use in Latin of an athematic declension with two different stems (nominative senek- and oblique sen-), versus thematic declension in other Indo-European languages, is an unresolved puzzle. === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈsɛ.nɛks] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈsɛː.neks] === Noun === senex m or f (genitive senis); third declension old man, older man (typically age 40 or older; older than a iuvenis) Synonyms: seneciō, veglō (Mediaeval) Antonym: iuvenis ; speech 2, section 5 […] magno opere contemno, conlectum ex senibus desperatis, ex agresti luxuria, ex rusticis decoctoribus, ex eis qui vadimonia deserere quam illum exercitum maluerunt; […] I thoroughly despise that army composed of desperate old men, of clownish profligates, and uneducated spendthrifts; of those who have preferred to desert their bail rather than that army old person, older person Antonym: iuvenis (uncommon) as feminine old woman, older woman Synonyms: anus, anicula ==== Declension ==== Third-declension noun. ==== Derived terms ==== senex amans senex iratus ==== Descendants ==== === Adjective === senex (genitive senis, comparative senior); third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem) (usually of a person) old, aged, elderly Synonyms: grandaevus, senectus, vetus, vetulus, vetustus Antonyms: iuvenis, novus, novellus, recēns ==== Usage notes ==== Mostly used with animate masculine nouns: Allen and Greenough suggests it can be characterized as a "masculine adjective". However, some inanimate examples occur in the poetry of Martial (masculine: senibus autumnis, senem ... cadum; neuter: senibus ... Damascenis) and in the Appendix Vergiliana (neuter: senibus ... saeclis). See Citations:senex. As with the noun, feminine use is rare. The explicitly feminine counterpart anus (“old woman”) is sometimes used adjectivally in like manner. The late antique grammar Instituta artium (pseudo-Probus, probably 4th century) says it is grammatical to use senex and anus in apposition or as a predicate with a neuter noun such as mancipium n (“slave”) (e.g. senex mancipium "old man slave" = "old (male) slave", hoc mancipium senex est "this slave is an old man" = "this slave is old") but denies that senex is a neuter inflected adjective form in this context, saying it is impossible for it to be preceded by a neuter demonstrative (e.g. per pseudo-Probus, one can't say *hoc senex mancipium "this-N old man slave-N"). The forms are normally identical to those of the noun, with consonant-stem ablative singular sene and genitive plural senum (compare iuvenis). Alternative i-stem forms (ablative singular senī and genitive plural senium) are only attested postclassically and are not usual. The superlative form senissimus is not used in Classical Latin. To express the sense "eldest" or "born earliest" when speaking of a group of persons, the phrase maximus nātū/nātū maximus was used: e.g. maximus nātū ex iīs "the eldest of them". Depending on the context, the English superlative adjective "oldest" can alternatively correspond to the superlative of other semantically similar Latin adjectives, as in vetustissimus amīcōrum (“the oldest of (one's) friends”) or veterrimī poētae (“the oldest/earliest/most ancient poets”). ==== Declension ==== Third-declension one-termination adjective (non-i-stem). ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Related terms ==== senior ==== Descendants ==== ==== See also ==== antīquus === References === === Further reading === “senex”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press “senex”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers "senex", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887) “senex”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette. Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎[3], London: Macmillan and Co. Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911), “sĕnex”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 588 Schrijver, Peter C. H. (1991), The Reflexes of the Proto-Indo-European Laryngeals in Latin (Leiden Studies in Indo-European; 2), Amsterdam, Atlanta: Rodopi, →ISBN, pages 149-154 Sihler, Andrew L. (1995), New Comparative Grammar of Greek and Latin, Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 167, 319