septenus

Latin

Latin numbers ^(edit)

	70
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Cardinal: septem     Ordinal: septimus     Adverbial: septiēs, septiēns     Proportional: septuplus     Multiplier: septemplex, septimplex, septuplex, septiplex     Distributive: septēnus     Fractional: septāns

Etymology

Probably from earlier *septemsnos, equivalent to septem +‎ -nus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /sepˈteː.nus/, [s̠ɛpˈt̪eːnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /sepˈte.nus/, [sepˈt̪ɛːnus]

Numeral

septēnus (feminine septēna, neuter septēnum); first/second-declension numeral

1. (in the plural) seven each
   • 4 CE – c. 70 CE, Columella, De Re Rustica 12.28.1.7:

     tum in serias singulas quae sint amphor<ar>um septenum, addito medicaminis pondo unciam et scripula octo

     • 1955 translation by E. S. Forster, Edward H. Heffner

       Then into each vessel, which should contain seven amphorae, put an ounce and eight scripula of the preparation

2. (poetic) seven, sevenfold

   Synonym: septēnārius

   • c. 45 CE – 96 CE, Statius, Silvae 5.2.136:

     an iuga Pannoniae mutatoresque domorum / Sauromatas quaties? an te septenus habebit / Hister et umbroso circumflua coniuge Peuce?

     • 2015 translation by D. R. Shackleton Bailey

       Or shall you shake Pannonia’s ridges and nomad Sarmatians? Or shall sevenfold Hister have you, and Peuce, surrounded by her spouse’s shady stream?

   • c. 490 CE – 517 CE, Avitus Viennensis, Poematum de Mosaicae historiae gestis 1.281:

     Fit fluvius pereunte lacu: tum redditur alveo
     Pristina riparum conclusis fluctibus obex,
     Donec dividuum spargens per devia finem
     Gurgite septeno patulum percurrat in aequor.

     • 1997 translation by George W. Shea

       As the lake it formed disappears, it becomes once more a river. Then the ancient barrier of its banks is restored to its channel, and its waves are confined, until finally its divided mouth is scattered over distant wastes as it runs in seven streams to the open sea.

Usage notes

This is part of the Latin series of distributive numerals. These numerals are inflected as first/second-declension adjectives; in Classical Latin, they typically accompany plural nouns (with which they agree in case and gender) and have the following functions:

• to express the sense “[numeral] [noun]s each/apiece”, as in hominis digiti ternos articulos habent, “a man’s fingers have three joints each” (Pliny the Elder, Natural History 11.244.3).

• to express multiplication after a numeral adverb, as in Gallinaciis enim pullis bis deni dies opus sunt, pavoninis ter noveni "hens' [eggs] need twice ten days, peahens' thrice nine" (Marcus Terentius Varro, Res Rusticae 3.9.10)

• to express the sense of cardinal numerals when used with pluralia tantum (plural-only nouns) such as castra "camp": for example, "twelve camps" is expressed by duodēna castra (Pliny the Elder, Natural History 7.105.5). Distributive forms are regularly used in this context for the number 2 and for all numbers greater than 4. For 1, plural-only nouns are used with plural inflected forms of the cardinal ūnus (“one”), as in ūnae scālae "one flight of stairs" (rather than with forms of the distributive numeral singulus). For 3 and 4, plural-only nouns are used with the plural inflected forms of trīnus and quadrīnus, as in trīna castra "three camps" (rather than with forms of ternus and quaternus, which tend to be used in distributive function).

These adjectives do not normally occur in the singular. Because of this, many grammars and dictionaries treat them as plural-only words and refer to them using the nominative masculine plural form in -ī, rather than the nominative masculine singular form in -us (which is often unattested in Classical Latin). However, some of these adjectives are attested in the singular in Classical Latin poetry (e.g. Sed neque Centauri fuerunt, nec tempore in ullo / esse queunt duplici natura et corpore bino..., Titus Lucretius Carus, De Rerum Natura 5.879, and Sic tu bis fueris consul, bis consul et ille, / inque domo binus conspicietur honor, Publius Ovidius Naso, Epistulae ex Ponto 4.9.64; "corpore bino" here seems to have the sense of "twofold body", and "binus ... honor" the sense of "double/dual/twofold honor"). Singular forms are also attested in postclassical Latin, where these adjectives sometimes have non-distributive meanings (taking an ordinal, cardinal, or collective sense instead). These alternative senses are sometimes continued by Romance descendants (e.g. Spanish noveno (“ninth”) from Latin novēnus).

The genitive plural of singulus is usually singulōrum/singulārum, but distributive numerals greater than one commonly use short genitive plural forms ending in -um rather than the longer forms ending in -ōrum and -ārum.

Declension

First/second-declension adjective (distributive, normally plural-only; short genitive plurals in -num preferred).

	singular				plural
	masculine	feminine	neuter		masculine	feminine	neuter
nominative	septēnus	septēna	septēnum		septēnī	septēnae	septēna
genitive	septēnī	septēnae	septēnī		septēnum septēnōrum	septēnum septēnārum	septēnum septēnōrum
dative	septēnō	septēnae	septēnō		septēnīs
accusative	septēnum	septēnam	septēnum		septēnōs	septēnās	septēna
ablative	septēnō	septēnā	septēnō		septēnīs
vocative	septēne	septēna	septēnum		septēnī	septēnae	septēna

Derived terms

• septēnārius

Further reading

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