venetus

== Latin == === Etymology === From Venetī +‎ -us or directly from the unknown original endonym. As a color term, possibly from the color of the Venetian Lagoon. It signified at first only the color of the charioteer faction's paraphernalia. === Pronunciation === (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [ˈwɛ.nɛ.tʊs] (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [ˈvɛː.ne.tus] === Adjective === venetus (feminine veneta, neuter venetum); first/second-declension adjective Venetian, of or related to the Veneti (of dyed fabrics) blue (not deep blue), sea-blue, cyan (Medieval Latin) Venetian, of or related to Venice ==== Usage notes ==== Venetus is used for the Blues faction from the 1st century AD, but general use of venetus as a color term is not attested until considerably into Late Latin centuries later. It is said to be the color of seawater in general use by that time, and on one occasion is found as a gloss for the fashion color term callainus (“turquoise”). However, all known depictions of the Blues' charioteers show them clad in pure shades of blue with no greenishness to them. Possibly the word was not unlike modern English cyan and meant at once a blue-green color and an azure blue color. It is on one occasion in the Historia Augusta found to contrast with vitreus. As has already been noted, the color term, excepting the connection to the charioteer faction, is otherwise absent from Classical Latin. ==== Declension ==== First/second-declension adjective. ==== Related terms ==== ==== Descendants ==== Aromanian: vinit Italian: veneto → Catalan: vènet → French: vénète → Romanian: venet Piedmontese: vénet → Portuguese: vêneto Romanian: vânăt → Romani: vuneto → Spanish: véneto Venetan: vèneto ==== See also ==== === Noun === venetus m (genitive venetī); second declension (historical, sports) the Blues, the racing faction of the Roman and Constantinopolitan circus clothed in blue ==== Declension ==== Second-declension noun. ==== Synonyms ==== factio veneta ==== Coordinate terms ==== prasinus, factio prasina (Greens); russatus, factio russata (Reds); albus, albatus, factio alba, factio albata (Whites); auratus, factio aurata (Golds, rare); purpureus, factio purpurea (Purples, rare) ==== Descendants ==== Byzantine Greek: Βένετοι (Bénetoi) === References === “venetus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers "venetus", 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)