nenia

Latin

nenia (plural nenias)

1. (Ancient Rome) A funeral song; an elegy.

• “nenia”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

• -anine, Annie, inane

From neni- (negative correlative prefix) +‎ -a (correlative suffix of kind).

• IPA^(key): [neˈnia]
• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ia
• Hyphenation: ne‧ni‧a

nenia (accusative singular nenian, plural neniaj, accusative plural neniajn)

1. no kind of

From Latin nenia.

nenia f (plural nenie)

1. dirge
2. wail

• Ienna, inane

• naenia

Perhaps from Ancient Greek νηνία (nēnía).

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈneː.ni.a/, [ˈneːniä]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈne.ni.a/, [ˈnɛːniä]

nēnia f (genitive nēniae); first declension

1. a funeral song, dirge
2. a spell, incantation, enchantment

   Synonyms: carmen, cantiō, cantus, incantāmentum

3. a song of little consequence, ditty, tune, lullaby

   Synonyms: lallus, lallum

4. (in the plural) talk of little consequence, trifles, nonsense

   Synonyms: nūgae, nihil

   • 1st c. AD, Phaedrus, Poeta :

     POĒTA / Ioculāre tibi vidētur et sānē levī, / Dum nihil habēmus maius, calamō lūdimus, / Sed dīligenter intuēre hās nēniās / Quantam sub titulīs ūtilitātem reperiēs!

     Poet. / It may seem to you that it's just jests and trifles when I don't have anything better to do and play with the pen: but look at these trifles diligently; you will find so much usefulness under this pretext!

5. (Late Latin, Medieval Latin) a complaint, criticism

   Synonyms: querēla, cēnsūra

First-declension noun.

• → English: nenia
• → French: nénie
• → Italian: nenia
• → Portuguese: nénia, nênia
• → Romanian: nenie
• → Spanish: nenia

• “nenia”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “nenia”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• nenia in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• “nenia”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper's Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• “nenia”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin