mendacium
Latin
Etymology
From mendāc- (“lying”, “untruthful”, oblique stem of mendāx) + -ium (nominal suffix).
Pronunciation
- (Classical) IPA(key): /menˈdaː.ki.um/, [mɛn̪ˈd̪äːkiʊ̃ˑ]
- (Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): /menˈda.t͡ʃi.um/, [men̪ˈd̪äːt͡ʃium]
Noun
mendācium n (genitive mendāciī or mendācī); second declension
- A lie, untruth, falsehood, fiction.
- Synonym: commentum
- 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.261-262:
- ‘addis’ ait ‘culpae mendācia,’ Phoebus ‘et audēs
fātidicum verbīs fallere velle deum?’- ‘‘So saying, [do] you add lies to your fault?’’ says Phoebus. ‘‘And [do] you dare
wish to deceive the god of prophecy with words?’’
- ‘‘So saying, [do] you add lies to your fault?’’ says Phoebus. ‘‘And [do] you dare
- ‘addis’ ait ‘culpae mendācia,’ Phoebus ‘et audēs
- 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Proverbs 10:4:
- quī nītitur mendāciīs hic pāscit ventōs: idem autem ipse sequitur avēs volantēs
- He that trusteth to lies feedeth the winds: and the same runneth after birds that fly away.
(Douay-Rheims trans., Challoner rev.; 1752 CE)
- He that trusteth to lies feedeth the winds: and the same runneth after birds that fly away.
- quī nītitur mendāciīs hic pāscit ventōs: idem autem ipse sequitur avēs volantēs
- An illusion, counterfeit.
Declension
Second-declension noun (neuter).
Case | Singular | Plural |
---|---|---|
Nominative | mendācium | mendācia |
Genitive | mendāciī mendācī1 | mendāciōrum |
Dative | mendāciō | mendāciīs |
Accusative | mendācium | mendācia |
Ablative | mendāciō | mendāciīs |
Vocative | mendācium | mendācia |
1Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).
Quotations
- "Ego numquam pronuntiare mendacium sed ego sum homo indomitus." Braveheart.
Derived terms
- mendāciloquus
- mendāciunculum
Related terms
- mendāciloquium
- mendācitās
- mendāciter
- mendāx
Descendants
- French: mendacieux
- Italian: mendacio
References
- “mendacium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
- “mendacium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
- mendacium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette
- Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book, London: Macmillan and Co.
- to tell lies: mendacium dicere
- to tell lies: mendacium dicere