Adjective: senex
Hyphenation:
Declension: Third
Nominative
| Singular masc. | senex |
| Singular fem. | senex |
Genitive
| Singular masc. | senis |
| Singular fem. | senis |
Dative
| Singular masc. | senī |
| Singular fem. | senī |
Accusative
| Singular masc. | senem |
| Singular fem. | senem |
Ablative
| Singular masc. | sene |
| Singular fem. | sene |
Vocative
| Singular masc. | senex |
| Singular fem. | senex |
Sample Sentences
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Heli autem erat senex valde et audivit omnia quae faciebant filii sui universo Israheli (Now Eli was very old, and heard all that his sons did unto all Israel;) [Late 4th century, Jerome [et al.], transl., edited by Roger Gryson, Biblia Sacra: Iuxta Vulgatam Versionem (Vulgate), 5th edition, Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, published 2007, →ISBN, 2:22:]
Adjectives inflected like senex
senex,
Etymology
1. PIE word
2. *sénos
3. From Proto-Italic *seneks, from Proto-Indo-European *sénos (“old”). Cognates include Lithuanian senis (“old man”), Ancient Greek ἕνος (hénos), Old Irish sen, Proto-Brythonic *hen, Avestan 𐬵𐬀𐬥𐬀 (hana, “old”), Sanskrit सन (sána) and Gothic 𐍃𐌹𐌽𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃 (sineigs). The use in Latin of an athematic declension with two different stems (nominative senek- and oblique sen-), versus thematic declension in other Indo-European languages, is an unresolved puzzle.
4. More information
5. According to one hypothesis, the stem sen- (seen in oblique forms such as senem, sene, senum) replaced an earlier thematic stem *seno- because of analogy to the stem iuven- of the antonym iuvenis (“young man”). The nominative singular of a non-neuter n-stem noun usually ends in -ō, but this ending came to be avoided in Latin when it would produce a monosyllabic form (compare canis from *ḱwṓ). Hence, in place of hypothetical *sō (or per Sihler, *sē), the nominative singular form senex, built on the stem senek-, came to be used alongside oblique forms built on the shorter stem sen-. Schrijver and De Vaan both express doubt about this analogical explanation for the origin of the stem sen-.
6. The origin of the stem senek- is also debated. It may simply continue a suffix containing PIE *k or *ḱ: compare -icus, -āx. An alternative, controversial hypothesis proposes that the PIE laryngeal *h₂ could develop into /k/ before /s/ in certain cases.
7. Alternatively, the apparent discrepancy between the nominative senex and the oblique root sen- may reflect a Proto-Italic root *seneɣ-, which in Old Latin would yield senex in the nominative and *seneh- (later contracted to sen-) in the oblique. See: Gothic Adjectives '
𐍃𐌹𐌽𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃'.
Verbs referencing "senex"
Gothic Adjectives
𐍃𐌹𐌽𐌴𐌹𐌲𐍃, French Adjectives
sénile.
Translations