lenis

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See also: Lenis

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin lēnis (“soft, smooth”).

Pronunciation

Adjective

lenis (not comparable)

  1. (phonetics) Weakly articulated (of a consonant), hence voiced; especially as compared to the others of a group of homorganic consonants.
    Synonym: lax
    Antonym: fortis
    • 2004, Stephan Gramley, Michael Pätzold, A Survey of Modern English, Routledge, →ISBN, page 80:
      All vowels, whether short or complex, are relatively shorter when followed by a fortis consonant and relatively longer when followed by a lenis one or, for those where this is possible, when no consonant follows (in free or unchecked syllables).

Derived terms

Noun

lenis (plural lenes)

  1. (phonetics) A lenis consonant.

Anagrams

Latin

Etymology 1

From Proto-Italic *lēnis (“soft, mild”), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁- (“lazy, slow; soft”).

Cognate to Proto-Slavic *lěnь (“laziness”) and to Lithuanian lė́nas (“slow, calm”). Compare also lentus, of similar sound and meaning but different origin.

Pronunciation

Adjective

lēnis (neuter lēne, comparative lēnior, superlative lēnissimus, adverb lēne or lēniter); third-declension two-termination adjective

  1. soft, smooth, gentle, moderate, mild, calm
    Synonyms: lentus, mītis, placidus, mollis
  2. gradual
Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

Number Singular Plural
Case / Gender Masc./Fem. Neuter Masc./Fem. Neuter
Nominative lēnis lēne lēnēs lēnia
Genitive lēnis lēnium
Dative lēnī lēnibus
Accusative lēnem lēne lēnēs
lēnīs 		lēnia
Ablative lēnī lēnibus
Vocative lēnis lēne lēnēs lēnia
Derived terms
Related terms
Descendants
  • English: lenis, lenient
  • Galician: lene, ao len
  • Italian: lene
  • Occitan: len
  • Romanian: lin
  • Spanish: lene
  • Portuguese: lene

Etymology 2

Inflected form of lēna (“madame, procuress”).

Pronunciation

Noun

lēnīs

  1. dative/ablative plural of lēna

References

  • “lenis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “lenis”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • lenis 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)
  • lenis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) a gentle, subdued voice: vox lenis, suppressa, summissa
  1. ^ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 333
  2. ^ “lene” in: Alberto Nocentini, Alessandro Parenti, “l'Etimologico — Vocabolario della lingua italiana”, Le Monnier, 2010, →ISBN
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