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initium. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
initium, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
initium in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
initium you have here. The definition of the word
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Latin
Etymology
From ineō (“go in, make a start”) + -ium, the former from in (“in, into”) + eō (“go”).
Pronunciation
Noun
initium n (genitive initiī or initī); second declension
- beginning, start
- Synonyms: prīncipium, exordium, limen, orīgō, rudīmentum, prīmōrdium
- Antonym: fīnis
- a going in, entrance
- Synonyms: ingressus, limen, iānua, ingressiō, foris, porta, vestibulum
- Antonym: abitus
- (in the plural) rites, mysteries
- initiative, first move
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).
Derived terms
Descendants
References
- “initium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “initium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- initium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
- Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to begin with a thing: initium capere; incipere ab aliqua re
- to commence a thing: initium facere, ducere, sumere (alicuius rei)
- to start from small beginnings: ab exiguis initiis proficisci
- to begin to speak: initium dicendi facere
- to commence hostilities: bellum incipere, belli initium facere (B. G. 7. 1. 5)
- (ambiguous) the elements: elementa; initia or principia rerum
- (ambiguous) at the beginning of the year: initio anni, ineunte anno