xenium

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin xenium, from Ancient Greek ξένιον (xénion), neuter accusative of ξένῐος (xénĭos, pertaining to a guest, adjective), ultimately from ξένος (xénos, guest, stranger). First attested in the 1700s.

Pronunciation

  • (British) enPR: ʹzēnĭəm; IPA(key): /ˈziːnɪəm/

Noun

xenium (plural xenia)

  1. A gift or offering.
    • 1872, Mackenzie Edward C. Walcott, Traditions and customs of cathedrals, page 136:
      At Rochester the Bishop received a xenium or pension on St. Andrew's Day from the convent.
    1. (historical) A gift or offering given to a guest or a stranger, especially of food, in Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome.

References

Further reading

Latin

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ξένιον (xénion).

Pronunciation

Noun

xenium n (genitive xeniī or xenī); second declension

  1. a present, gift, especially one for a host or vice-versa.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

singular plural
nominative xenium xenia
genitive xeniī
xenī1
xeniōrum
dative xeniō xeniīs
accusative xenium xenia
ablative xeniō xeniīs
vocative xenium xenia

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

Derived terms

References

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