# mens
## English
### Etymology 1
#### Noun

mens
* (nonstandard, African-American Vernacular) Alternative form of men (“plural of man”)
* Obsolete form of men's.
** 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Luke 21:26:Mens hearts failing them for feare, and for looking after those things which are comming on the earth; For the powers of heauen shall be shaken.
** 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:A thousand fantasies Begin to throng into my memory Of calling shapes, and beckning shadows dire, And airy tongues, that syllable mens names On Sands, and Shoars, and desert Wildernesses.
** c. 1670s (date written), Thomas Brown [i.e., Thomas Browne], “Sect[ion] II”, in John Jeffery, editor, Christian Morals, […], Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] [A]t the University-Press, for Cornelius Crownfield printer to the University; and are to be sold by Mr. Knapton […]; and Mr. [John] Morphew […], published 1716, →OCLC, part II, pages 46–47:Bring candid Eyes unto the peruſal of mens works, and let not Zoiliſm or Detraction blaſt well intended labours.
* Misspelling of men's.

#### See also

* womens
* peoples
* menz

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

mens
* (Philippines, biology, colloquial) Clipping of menstruation.

### Anagrams

* NEMS, nems

## Afrikaans
### Etymology

From Dutch mens, from Middle Dutch mensche, from Old Dutch mennisko, from Proto-Germanic *manniskaz.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɛns/
* Audio; [mẽːs]:(file)

### Noun

mens (plural mense, diminutive mensie)
* person, human being

### Pronoun

mens
* one (indefinite pronoun)
    Synonym: 'n mens

## Danish
### Alternative forms

* medens (dated)

### Etymology

From Old Norse meðan.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɛns/, [mens̺]

### Conjunction

mens
* while, when (during the same time that)
* while (although)
* whereas

#### Related terms

* imens

### References

* “mens” in Den Danske Ordbog

## Dutch
### Alternative forms

* mensch (obsolete)

### Etymology

From Middle Dutch mensche, from Old Dutch mennisko, a substantivised form of the adjective *mennisk (“human, humanlike”), from Proto-West Germanic *mannisk, from Proto-Germanic *manniskaz.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɛns/
* Audio:(file)
* Hyphenation: mens
* Rhymes: -ɛns

### Noun

mens m (plural mensen, diminutive mensje n)
* human, any member of the species Homo sapiens
    De mens is van nature een politiek dier.Man is by nature a political animal.
    Ik ben ook maar een mens!I'm only human!
* person

#### Synonyms

* (person): persoon

#### Derived terms

* aapmens
* binnenmens
* buitenmens
* dorpsmens
* godmens
* goedmens
* halfmens
* manmens
* medemens
* mensbeeld
* mensdom
* menselijk
* menselijkheid
* menseneter
* mensenhandel
* mensenmens
* mensensmokkel
* mensheid
* mensonterend
* menswaardig
* natuurmens
* oermens
* onmens
* paardmens
* plantagemens
* stadsmens
* tussenmens
* vakmens
* vrouwmens

#### Descendants

* Afrikaans: mens
* Negerhollands: mensch, mens
* Skepi Creole Dutch: mens

### Noun

mens n (plural mensen, diminutive mensje n)
* (informal, derogatory) woman
    Dat mens werkt me echt op de zenuwen.That woman really annoys me.

#### Synonyms

* (woman): secreet, wijf

## French
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mɑ̃/
* Audio (Canada):(file)

### Verb

mens
* inflection of mentir:
** first/second-person singular present indicative
** second-person singular imperative

## Ladin
### Alternative forms

* mëns, meis

### Etymology

From Latin mensis.

### Noun

mens m (plural mensc)
* month

## Latin
### Etymology

Inherited from Proto-Italic *mentis, from Proto-Indo-European *méntis (“thought”). Cognate with Sanskrit मति (matí), αὐτόματος (autómatos), μάντις (mántis), Russian мнить (mnitʹ, “to think”), Old English ġemynd (whence English mind), Lithuanian mintis (“thought”).

### Pronunciation

* (Classical Latin) IPA: /ˈmens/, [ˈmẽːs̠]
* (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA: /ˈmens/, [ˈmɛns]

### Noun

mēns f (genitive mentis); third declension
* mind
** 29 BCE – 19 BCE, Virgil, Aeneid 4.39:“Nec venit in mentem quōrum cōnsēderis arvīs?”“Does it not come into [your] mind [the sort of people] whose lands you have settled?” (Idiomatic translations vary – Mackail, 1885: “nor does it cross thy mind”; Knight, 1956: “you should remember”; Mandelbaum, 1971: “have you forgotten”; Fitzgerald, 1981: “have you considered”; Fagles, 2006: “don’t you recall”; Ahl, 2007: “aren’t you concerned about”; Bartsch, 2020: “do you forget”.)
* intellect, reason
* reasoning, judgement
* heart, conscience (seat of the thoughts and will)
* disposition
    Synonyms: indolēs, ingenium, habitus, nātūra, character
** c. 69 CE – 122 CE, Suetonius, De vita Caesarum Caligulae:hominum erga se mentesthe dispositions of men toward him
* thought, plan, purpose, intention
    Synonyms: voluntās, intentiō, propositum, cōnsilium, fīnis, animus

#### Usage notes

Could be combined with an adjective in an ablative absolute expressing one's state of mind or intention, as in Catullus' obstinata mente perfer "endure it with a resolute mind" or Virgil's simulata mente locutam "spoken with false purpose". In some cases the combination simply expresses the manner in which a (mental) action is performed, as in Ovid's male sit tacita mente precare viro "silently pray for misfortune to befall her husband". Eventually this became a generalized adverbial construction, with clear examples documented by at least the eighth century AD (alterā mente "otherwise", sōlā mente "only") whence the Romance adverbial suffixes of the -mente type.

#### Declension

Third-declension noun (i-stem).

#### Derived terms

* alterā mente
* āmens
* dēmens
* mentālis
* mentior
* sōlā mente

#### Related terms

* meminī

#### Descendants

Nouns:
* Albanian: mend
* Aromanian: minti, minte
* Asturian: miente, mente
* Catalan: ment
* → Esperanto: menso
* Friulian: ment
* Ido: mento
* Italian: mente
* Occitan: ment
* Portuguese: mente
* Romanian: minte
* Sardinian: mente, menti
* Sicilian: menti
* Spanish: mente
* Venetan: ménte
Adverbial suffixes (see usage notes above):
* Italo-Romance:
** Italian: -mente
* Gallo-Romance:
** Catalan: -ment
** Franco-Provençal: -ment
** Old French: -ment (see there for further descendants)
** Occitan: -ment
* Ibero-Romance:
** Asturian: -mente
** Old Galician-Portuguese: -mente
*** Galician: -mente
*** Portuguese: -mente
** Spanish: -mente
*** → Interlingua: -mente (and from other Romance forms)

### References

* ↑ De Vaan, Michiel (2008) “mēns, mentis”, in Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series; 7), Leiden, Boston: Brill, →ISBN, pages 372-3

### Further reading

* “mens”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
* “mens”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
* mens in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
* Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co. to attract universal attention: omnium animos or mentes in se convertere to free one's mind from the influences of the senses: sevocare mentem a sensibus (De Nat. D. 3. 8. 21) to be out of one's mind: mente captum esse, mente alienata esse to possess great ability: intellegentia or mente multum valere to grasp a thing mentally: animo, mente, cogitatione aliquid comprehendere, complecti something comes into my mind: mihi in mentem venit alicuius rei to fix all one's thoughts on an object: mentem in aliqua re defigere to think over, consider a thing: agitare (in) mente or (in) animo aliquid with the intention of..: eo consilio, ea mente, ut nothing will ever make me forgetful of him: semper memoria eius in (omnium) mentibus haerebit a man's soul breathes through his writings: alicuius mens in scriptis spirat to upset a person: alicuius mentem turbare, conturbare, perturbare to compose oneself with difficulty: mente vix constare (Tusc. 4. 17. 39) to be calm, self-possessed: mente consistere a good conscience: mens bene sibi conscia to be tormented by remorse: (mens scelerum furiis agitatur) superstition has taken possession of their souls: superstitio mentes occupavit (Verr. 4. 51. 113) (ambiguous) to see with the mind's eye: oculis mentis videre aliquid (ambiguous) to be of sane mind: mentis compotem esse (ambiguous) to be of sound mind: sanae mentis esse (ambiguous) to obscure the mental vision: mentis quasi luminibus officere (vid. sect. XIII. 6) or animo caliginem offundere (ambiguous) innate ideas: notiones animo (menti) insitae, innatae (ambiguous) to lose one's composure; to be disconcerted: de statu suo or mentis deici (Att. 16. 15) (ambiguous) to lose one's head, be beside oneself: sui (mentis) compotem non esse (ambiguous) enthusiasm: ardor, inflammatio animi, incitatio mentis, mentis vis incitatior
* “mens”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
* mens in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎, pre-publication website, 2005-2016
* “mens”, in William Smith, editor (1848), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London: John Murray

## Norwegian Bokmål
### Pronunciation

* This entry needs pronunciation information. If you are familiar with the IPA then please add some!

### Etymology 1

From Danish mens, from older medens, from Old Norse meðan.

#### Conjunction

mens
* while
* whereas

#### See also

* medan (Nynorsk)

### Etymology 2
#### Noun

mens m (definite singular mensen, indefinite plural mens or menser, definite plural mensene)
* short for menstruasjon (menstruation), a monthly period.

### References

* “mens” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Noun

mens m (definite singular mensen, indefinite plural mensar, definite plural mensane)
* short for menstruasjon (menstruation), a monthly period.

### References

* “mens” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

## Occitan
### Etymology

From Latin minus.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Adverb

mens
* less
    Antonyms: mai, pus

#### Derived terms

* almens
* mai o mens
* pasmens

## Old Norse
### Noun

mens
* indefinite genitive singular of men

## Swedish
### Etymology 1

Syncopic form of medans, in turn a colloquial form of medan (“while”).

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛnːs/
* Rhymes: -ɛnːs
* Homophone: mäns

#### Conjunction

mens
* (colloquial) while
    Synonyms: medan, (colloquial) medans
    Jag dukar fram frukost mens du duschar.I’ll arrange breakfast while you take a shower.

### Etymology 2

Clipping of menstruation.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmɛnːs/
* Rhymes: -ɛnːs
* Homophone: mäns

#### Noun

mens c
* menstruation, period
    Jag har mensI'm on my period

##### Derived terms

* mensblod (“menstrual blood”)
* menskopp (“menstrual cup”)
* mensskydd (“menstrual hygiene product”)

##### See also

* lingonvecka

### Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈmeːns/
* Rhymes: -eːns

#### Noun

mens
* indefinite genitive singular of men
* indefinite genitive plural of men

### References

* mens in Svensk ordbok (SO)
* mens in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
* mens in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)

## Tagalog
### Etymology

From clipping of English menstruation or menses.

### Pronunciation

* (Standard Tagalog) IPA: /ˈmens/ [ˈmɛn̪s]
* Rhymes: -ens
* Syllabification: mens

### Noun

mens (Baybayin spelling ᜋᜒᜈ᜔ᜐ᜔) (colloquial)
* menstruation; period
    Synonyms: regla, sapanahon, buwanang dalaw

#### Derived terms

* magkamens
* magmens

## Volapük
### Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /mens/

### Noun

mens
* people
** 1940, “Pro yunanef Nedänik”, in Volapükagased pro Nedänapükans, page 30:Mens fidons, drinons, slipons e vobons.The people eat, drink, sleep and work.