denarius

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dēnārius. Doublet of denar, denier, dinar, diner, dinero, and dinheiro.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US)
  • enPR: dĭ'när(ē)əs
  • (US) IPA^(key): /dɪˈnɑɹi.əs/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈnɑːɹɪ.əs/
• (UK, US)
  • enPR: dĭ'nâr(ē)əs
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /dɪˈnɛəɹɪ.əs/
  • (General American, without the Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /dɪˈnɛɚ.i.əs/
  • (General American, Mary–marry–merry merger) IPA^(key): /dɪˈnɛɹi.əs/

Noun

denarius (plural denarii or denariuses)

1. (Ancient Rome, numismatics) A small silver coin issued both during the Roman Republic and during the Roman Empire, equal to 10 asses or 4 sesterces. Roughly one day’s wage for a skilled worker.
   • 1966, James Workman, The Mad Emperor, Melbourne, Sydney: Scripts, page 146:

     "Sorry, I thought you were Aurel. He owes me a denarius. Have you seen him?"

   • 2007, Philip Matyszak, Ancient Rome on 5 Denarii a Day (title of the book)^[1]

References

Anagrams

• Eridanus, unireads, unraised

Alternative forms

• dinārius (spelling found in the Lex Salica)

Etymology

From dēnus (“ten each”) +‎ -ārius.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /deːˈnaː.ri.us/, [d̪eːˈnäːriʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /deˈna.ri.us/, [d̪eˈnäːrius]

Adjective

dēnārius (feminine dēnāria, neuter dēnārium); first/second-declension adjective

1. Containing or consisting of ten things
2. tenfold, denary
   • 412 CE – 426 CE, Aurelius Augustinus Hipponensis, City of God 20.23 :

     Quid sī enim numerō istō dēnāriō ūniversitās rēgum significāta est, post quōs ille ventūrus est; sīcut mīllēnāriō, centēnāriō, septēnāriō significātur plērumque ūniversitās, et aliīs atque aliīs numerīs, quōs nunc commemorāre nōn est necesse?

     What if this 10 were to represent all of the kings—after whom he [the Antichrist] is to come—just as 1000, 100, and 7 (as well as other numbers that don't need to be remembered now) often represent totality?

     (literally, “What if through this tenfold number the totality of the kings is signified, after whom he is to come, just as through the thousandfold, hundredfold, and sevenfold [number] totality is oftentimes signified, and through other and other numbers that is not necessary to remember now?”)

Noun

dēnārius m (genitive dēnāriī or dēnārī); second declension

1. denarius (due to a single coin's value of 10 asses, each made of silver.)

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “denarius”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volumes 3: D–F, page 39

Further reading

• “denarius”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “denarius”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• denarius 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)
• denarius in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • corn had gone up to 50 denarii the bushel: ad denarios L in singulos modios annona pervenerat
    
• “denarius”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “denarius”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin