# asinus
## Latin
### Etymology

Usually compared to Ancient Greek ὄνος (ónos) (which cannot be its direct ancestor), and, just like other IE words for "ass", must be traced back to an unknown substrate source in Asia Minor (compare Hieroglyphic Luwian [script needed] (tarkasna), Sumerian 𒀲 (anše)). The lack of rhotacism of the single intervocalic -s- after a short vowel would point to a recent borrowing.

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈa.si.nus/, [ˈäs̠ɪnʊs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈa.si.nus/, [ˈäːs̬inus]

### Noun

asinus m (genitive asinī); second declension
* donkey, ass
* (figuratively, humorous, derogatory) ass, cretin, idiot, dolt, blockhead, donkey (a slow-witted, inept person)
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:homo stultus
** c. 191 BCE, Plautus, Pseudolus, act 1, scene 2:Neque egō hominēs magis asinōs umquam vīdī […] quōs quom feriās, tibi plūs noceās.I've never seen human beings who were more like asses […] When you hit them, you hurt yourself more.
** 160 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Adelphoe :Quid tū autem huic, asine, auscultās?And why are you listening to him, you dolt?
** c. 70 BCE, Cicero, In Pisonem, chapter 73:Quid nunc tē, asine, litterās doceam? Nōn opus est verbīs, sed fustibus.Must I now teach an ass like you to read? What you need isn't words but a cudgeling.

#### Declension

Second-declension noun.

#### Synonyms

* iūmentum (esp. used to pull carts)
* onager, onagrus (the wild ass)

#### Derived terms

* asellus
* asina
* asinārius
* asinīnus
* asinus ad lyram
* asinus asinum fricat
* asinus in tegulīs
* asinusca
* pōns asinōrum
* quī asinum nōn potest, strātum caedit
* sepultūrā asinī sepeliētur

#### Descendants

* Insular Romance:
** Sardinian: àinu
* Balkano-Romance:
** Romanian: asân, asin
* Italo-Dalmatian:
** Corsican: asinu
** Italian: asino
** Sicilian: àsinu
** Venetan: axèno
* Rhaeto-Romance:
** Romansch: asen, asan, esan
* Gallo-Italic:
** Emilian: esen, az, ase, aso
** Ligurian: âze
** Lombard: asen, asne
** Piedmontese: aso, asi
* Gallo-Romance:
** Northern:
*** Old Franco-Provençal: asno
**** Franco-Provençal: âno
*** Old French: asne (see there for further descendants)
** Southern:
*** Catalan: ase
*** Old Occitan: asne
**** Occitan: ase
***** Gascon: aso, aine
***** Limousin: asne
***** Provençal: ai
* Ibero-Romance:
** Old Galician-Portuguese: asno
*** Galician: asno
*** Portuguese: asno
** Old Spanish: asno
*** Spanish: asno
**** → Cebuano: asno
**** → Classical Nahuatl: axnoh
**** → Tagalog: asno
* Borrowings:
** → Berber:
*** Tarifit: asnus
*** Tashelhit: asnus
** → Esperanto: azeno
** → Proto-Celtic:
*** Old Irish: asan
**** Middle Irish: asan, assan
*** Proto-Brythonic:
**** Breton: azen
**** Old Cornish: asen
**** Welsh: asyn, asen
*** → Old English: assen, assa
**** Middle English: as, ass, asse
***** English: ass
** → Samoan: asini

### Adjective

asinus (feminine asina, neuter asinum); first/second-declension adjective
* (relational) ass, donkey
* stupid, asinine

#### Declension

First/second-declension adjective.

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “asinus”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 57

### Further reading

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