agnus

From Proto-Italic *agʷnos, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂egʷnós (“lamb”).

Cognates include Ancient Greek ἀμνός (amnós), Old Church Slavonic агнѧ (agnę), Old English ēanian (English yean), and Albanian enjë.

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key):
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key):

agnus m (genitive agnī); second declension

1. a lamb, especially one used as a sacrifice

   Agnus absque maculā.

   A lamb without blemish.

   Vīlla abundat porcō, haedō, agnō.

   The farm abounds in pigs, young goats and lambs.

   Ecce Agnus Deī.

   Behold the Lamb of God.

Second-declension noun (contracted genitive plural).

¹Contraction found in poetry.

• Galician: año
• Italian: agno
• Neapolitan: àino
• Old French: agne, aigne, ainne
• Portuguese: anho
• Sicilian: aiuno, avuno, amuno (Calabrian)
• Catalan: anyell

• “agnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “agnus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "agnus", 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)
• agnus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• agnus in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “agnus” on page 97/2 of the Oxford Latin Dictionary (2nd ed., 2012)
• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “agnus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 24: Refonte A–Aorte, page 266
• Meyer-Lübke, Wilhelm (1911) “agnus”, in Romanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch (in German), page 19

A verbal adjective from an unattested root *ag- ("to drive"), paralleled by Old Irish án (“quick”) < *ag-nos, Sanskrit अजिर (ajirá-, “agile, quick”). Ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eǵ- (“to drive”); compare Old Irish aigid, Sanskrit अजति (ajati). The Lithuanian form appears to have undergone depalatalization before the nasal.

The connection with Russian яглый (jaglyj, “active, energetic”) is rejected by Vasmer.

IPA^(key): /ɐɡˈnʊs/

agnùs m (feminine agni̇̀, neuter agnù) stress pattern 4

1. (Samogitian) agile, energetic

• agnumas
• agniai

• “agnus”, in Lietuvių kalbos žodynas , lkz.lt, 1941–2025
• “agnus”, in Dabartinės lietuvių kalbos žodynas , ekalba.lt, 1954–2025

• (Standard Tagalog) IPA^(key): /ʔaɡˈnus/
• Rhymes: -us
• Syllabification: ag‧nus

agnús (Baybayin spelling ᜀᜄ᜔ᜈᜓᜐ᜔)

1. Alternative form of agnos