novenus

Latin

Latin numbers ^(edit)

	90
←  8	IX 9	10  →
Cardinal: novem     Ordinal: nōnus     Adverbial: noviēs, noviēns     Proportional: nōnuplus, nōncuplus, novemcuplus, novemplus, nocuplus, nuncuplus, noccuplus     Multiplier: novemplex, nōncuplex, nōnuplex, novemcuplex     Distributive: novēnus     Fractional: nōnus

Etymology

Probably from earlier *nowensnos, equivalent to novem +‎ -nus.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /noˈu̯eː.nus/, [noˈu̯eːnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /noˈve.nus/, [noˈvɛːnus]

Numeral

novēnus (feminine novēna, neuter novēnum); first/second-declension numeral

1. (in the plural) Nine each.
   • 4 CE – c. 70 CE, Columella, De Re Rustica 8.11.11.4:

     Sed veteres maximae quaeque gallinae vernaculi generis eligantur, eaeque novem diebus a primo lunae incremento novenis ovis incubent

     But the oldest and largest hens of the common type should be chosen, and should incubate nine eggs each nine days after the moon first starts to wax

2. (Medieval Latin) Ninefold.

   Synonym: novēnārius

   • 11th century, Cui canit hymnilogum :

     Laudibus angelicus quem succinit ordo novenus

     • 2004 translation by Gunilla Iversen

       We praise you to whom the ninefold angelic order sing with praises

3. (Medieval Latin) Ninth.

   Synonym: nōnus

   • c. 1460, Registrum abbatiae Johannis Whethamstede, 1 357:

     terminato anno octavo, inchoanteque noveno

     with the eighth year ended, and the ninth beginning

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	novēnus	novēna	novēnum		novēnī	novēnae	novēna
genitive	novēnī	novēnae	novēnī		novēnum novēnōrum	novēnum novēnārum	novēnum novēnōrum
dative	novēnō	novēnae	novēnō		novēnīs
accusative	novēnum	novēnam	novēnum		novēnōs	novēnās	novēna
ablative	novēnō	novēnā	novēnō		novēnīs
vocative	novēne	novēna	novēnum		novēnī	novēnae	novēna

Derived terms

• novēnārius
• novēna

Descendants

• Asturian: novenu
• Catalan: novè, nové
• Portuguese: noveno
• Sicilian: nuvenu, nuvena
• Spanish: noveno
• Old Piedmontese: noven

Further reading

• “novenus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• novenus 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)
• novenus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• R. E. Latham, D. R. Howlett, & R. K. Ashdowne, editors (1975–2013), “novenus”, in Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources‎^[1], London: Oxford University Press for the British Academy, →ISBN, →OCLC