Maius

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See also: maius

Latin

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Alternative forms

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Pronunciation

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  • (Classical Latin) IPA(key): /ˈmai̯.i̯us/, [ˈmäi̯ːʊs̠]
  • (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /ˈma.jus/, [ˈmäːjus]
  • Dictionaries or reference works sometimes mark the 'a' in the first syllable with a macron; however, the heavy weight of this syllable was not based on it containing a long vowel /aː/. Rather, this word was pronounced with /ajj/, a short vowel /a/ followed by a geminate consonant /jj/ (alternatively interpreted by some Latinists as /ai̯j/, a diphthong ending in -i̯- followed by the consonant /j/), as usual for Latin words with intervocalic -i-.[1][2]

Etymology 1

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    From Maia, the name or epithet of a goddess. The name may have originally been a native Latin formation from a feminine suffixed form of Proto-Indo-European *méǵh₂s (great) that was eventually conflated with Ancient Greek Μαῖα (Maîa, Maia), daughter of Atlas and mother of Hermes, whose name is derived from μαῖα (maîa, lady).

    Adjective

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    Maius (feminine Maia, neuter Maium); first/second-declension adjective

    1. (chiefly with mēnsis (month)) of May
    Usage notes
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    In Classical Latin, month names were regularly used as adjectives, generally modifying a case-form of mēnsis m sg (month) or of one of the nouns used in the Roman calendar to refer to specific days of the month from which other days were counted: Calendae f pl (calends), Nōnae f pl (nones), Īdūs f pl (ides). However, the masculine noun mēnsis could be omitted by ellipsis, so the masculine singular forms of month names eventually came to be used as proper nouns.[3]

    The accusative plural adjective forms Aprīlīs, Septembrīs, Octōbrīs, Novembrīs, Decembrīs[4] are ambiguous in writing, being spelled identically to the genitive singular forms of the nouns; nevertheless, the use of ablative singular forms in and comparison with the usage of other month names as adjectives supports the interpretation of -is as an accusative plural adjective ending in Classical Latin phrases such as "kalendas Septembris".[5]

    Declension
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    First/second-declension adjective.

    Proper noun

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    Maius m sg (genitive Maiī or Maī); second declension

    1. the month of May, May
    Declension
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    Second-declension noun, singular only.

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

    Descendants
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    • Balkan: Romance
      • Aromanian: maiu
    • Italo-Romance:
    • North-Italian:
    • Gallo-Romance:
      • Franco-Provençal:
      • Old French: mays
        • Middle French: May
          • French: mai
            • Guianese Creole:
            • Haitian Creole: me
            • English: may
            • Iranian Persian: مه (me)
            • Louisiana Creole:
            • South Azerbaijani: مه ()
            • Tunisian Arabic: ماي (mēy)
        • Norman: mai, mouai, me
        • Walloon: may
        • Middle English: May, Mai
          • English: May (see there for further descendants)
          • Scots: Mey
    • Occitano-Romance:
    • Ibero-Romance:
      • Aragonese: mayo
      • Ladino: mayo
      • Old Leonese:
      • Old Galician-Portuguese: mayo
        • Galician: maio
        • Portuguese: maio (see there for further descendants)
      • Spanish: mayo (see there for further descendants)
    • Insular Romance:
    Borrowings
    Unsorted borrowings

    These borrowings are ultimately but perhaps not directly from Latin. They are organized into geographical and language family groups, not by etymology.

    See also
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    References

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    1. ^ W. M. Lindsay (1894) The Latin Language, page 8:
      Cicero wrote ii to express the sound of the second element of an i-diphthong before a vowel (see ch. ii. § 55), e.g. aiio, Maiia, Aiiax (Quint, i. 4. II; Vel. Long. 7.54 K. : et in plerisque Cicero videtur auditu emensus scriptionem, qui et ‘Aiiacem’ et ‘Maiiam’ per duo i scribenda existimavit.
    2. ^ Nishimura, Kanehiro (2011) “Notes on Glide Treatment in Latin Orthography and Phonology: -iciō, servus, aiō”, in Historische Sprachforschung / Historical Linguistics, volume 124, page 193:
      It is well known that Latin orthography tends to avoid gemination of ⟨i⟩ for two successive -glides [...] The most classic case may be maior 'larger'; its phonological representation is /mai̯i̯or/ [...] the provision of a macron (i.e., māior, as if the vowel were long) in order to display the syllable weight — the way common in a number of grammar books and dictionaries — is utterly misleading in that it disguises the phonological reality. [...] Note also Cicero's preference for [...] "Maiiam" [...] Whatever the original Greek phonetic values of [...] Μαῖα, the glide seems to have at least phonetically filled both the coda of the first syllable and the onset of the second when borrowed into Latin (see Hoenigswald 1949: 394 and Godel 1953: 93).
    3. ^ Karl Gottlob Zumpt (1853) Leonhard Schmitz, Charles Anthon, transl., A Grammar of the Latin Language, 3rd edition, pages 31, 85
    4. ^ Gaeng, Paul A. (1968) An Inquiry into Local Variations in Vulgar Latin: As Reflected in the Vocalism of Christian Inscriptions, page 183
    5. ^ Frost, P. (1861) The Germania and Agricola of Tacitus, page 161
    6. ^ The template Template:R:sq:Schumacher-Matzinger does not use the parameter(s):
      1=page:213
      Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.
      Schumacher, Stefan, Matzinger, Joachim (2013) Die Verben des Altalbanischen: Belegwörterbuch, Vorgeschichte und Etymologie (Albanische Forschungen; 33) (in German), Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, →ISBN

    Further reading

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    • Māius 2 Māius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
    • Māius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press

    Etymology 2

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    An elliptical form of Maiusdeus (the great god”, “Jupiter), from maius (great, archaic form of magnus) +‎ deus (god).

    Proper noun

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    Maius m sg (genitive Maiī or Maī); second declension

    1. great god (epithet of Jupiter)
    Declension
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    Second-declension noun, singular only.

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

    References

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    • Māius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
    • Māius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
    • Māius 1 Māius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.