minimus

English

Etymology

From Latin minimus (“smallest”). See minim.

Noun

minimus (plural minimi or minimuses)

  1. (obsolete) A being of the smallest size.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
      Get you gone, you dwarf;
      You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made;
      You bead, you acorn.
  2. (dated) The youngest pupil in a school having a particular surname.
    Jones Minimus wants to join the rowing team.
  3. (anatomy) The little finger or the little toe

Translations

References

Latin

Alternative forms

  • minumus (Republican Latin)

Etymology

Suppletive superlative of parvus, comparative minor, from Proto-Indo-European *(s)mey(h₁)- (“small, little”), whence also Latin minuō, Gothic 𐌼𐌹𐌽𐌽𐌹𐌶𐌰 (minniza, “smaller”). Contains the same suffix as in īnfimus (“lowest”), but details are uncertain.[1] Related to Ancient Greek μῑκρός (mīkrós, “little, small”), English smicker.

Pronunciation

Adjective

minimus (superlative, feminine minima, neuter minimum); first/second declension

  1. superlative degree of parvus (“smallest”)

Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

singular plural
masculine feminine neuter masculine feminine neuter
nominative minimus minima minimum minimī minimae minima
genitive minimī minimae minimī minimōrum minimārum minimōrum
dative minimō minimae minimō minimīs
accusative minimum minimam minimum minimōs minimās minima
ablative minimō minimā minimō minimīs
vocative minime minima minimum minimī minimae minima

Antonyms

Descendants

  • Italo-Romance:
    • Italian: menomo
  • Gallo-Italic:
    • ⇒ Lombard: marmel, marmelin (“little finger”)
      • → Sicilian: barbeḍin (“little finger”)
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • ⇒ Franco-Provençal: amermar
    • Old Catalan: merme
    • Old French: merme
      • ⇒ Old French: doi marme (“little finger”)
      • ⇒? French: marmot (see there for further descendants)
  • Ibero-Romance:
    • ⇒ Old Galician-Portuguese:
      • Galician: mouminho (“smallest”), me(i)minho (“little finger”)
      • Portuguese: meiminho, mendinho (“little finger”)
    • >? Old Galician-Portuguese: meninho (“boy”), minhinho, meninno, menỹo
      • Galician: meniño
      • Portuguese: menino (see there for further descendants)

Borrowings:

References

  1. ^ Weiss, Michael L. (2009) Outline of the Historical and Comparative Grammar of Latin‎[1], Ann Arbor: Beech Stave Press, →ISBN, pages 360-61

Further reading

  • “minimus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • “minimus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • minimus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎[2], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • (ambiguous) the faintest suspicion: suspicio tenuissima, minima
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