xenium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin xenium.

Noun

xenium (plural xenia)

1. A gift or offering.
   • 1872, Mackenzie Edward C. Walcott, Traditions and customs of cathedrals, page 136:

     At Rochester the Bishop received a xenium or pension on St. Andrew's Day from the convent.

   1. (historical) A gift given to guests or foreign ambassadors, often of food, in Ancient Greece or Rome.

Related terms

• xenial

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ξένιον (xénion).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈkse.ni.um/, [ˈks̠ɛniʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈkse.ni.um/, [ˈksɛːnium]

Noun

xenium n (genitive xeniī or xenī); second declension

1. a present, gift, especially one for a host or vice-versa.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

Case	Singular	Plural
Nominative	xenium	xenia
Genitive	xeniī xenī1	xeniōrum
Dative	xeniō	xeniīs
Accusative	xenium	xenia
Ablative	xeniō	xeniīs
Vocative	xenium	xenia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Derived terms

• xeniolum

References

• “xenium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• xenium 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)
• xenium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.