asinus

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 (anšu)). The lack of rhotacism of the single intervocalic -s- after a short vowel would point to a recent borrowing.

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.si.nus/, [ˈäs̠ɪnʊs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.si.nus/, [ˈäːs̬inus]

asinus m (genitive asinī); second declension

1. a donkey, an ass
2. (figuratively, humorous, derogatory) an ass, cretin, idiot, dolt, blockhead (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.

Second-declension noun.

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

• Eastern Romance:
  • Romanian: asin, asân
• Insular Romance:
  • Sardinian: àinu
• Italo-Dalmatian:
  • Corsican: asinu
  • Italian: asino
  • Sicilian: àsinu
• Western Romance:
  • Gallo-Italian:
    • Emilian: esen, az, ase, aso
    • Lombard: asen, asne
    • Ligurian: âze
    • Piedmontese: aso, asi
    • Venetian: axèno
  • Gallo-Romance:
    • Old Franco-Provençal: asno
      • Franco-Provençal: âno
    • Old French: asne
      • Middle French: asne
        • French: âne
      • Norman: âne
      • Walloon: ågne
      • → Old Norse: asni (see there for further descendants)
  • Ibero-Romance:
    • Old Galician-Portuguese: asno
      • Galician: asno
      • Portuguese: asno
    • Old Spanish: asno
      • Spanish: asno
        • → Cebuano: asno
        • → Classical Nahuatl: axnoh
        • → Tagalog: asno
  • Occitano-Romance:
    • Catalan: ase
    • Old Occitan: asne
      • Occitan: ase
      • Gascon: aso, aine
      • Limousin: asne
      • Provençal: ai
  • Rhaeto-Romance:
  • Romansch: asen, asan, esan
• → Proto-Celtic:
  • Proto-Brythonic:
    • Breton: azen
    • Old Cornish: asen
    • Welsh: asyn, asen
  • Old Irish: asan
    • Middle Irish: asan, assan
  • → Old English: assen, assa
    • Middle English: as, ass, asse
      • English: ass
• → Samoan: asini

asinus (feminine asina, neuter asinum); first/second-declension adjective

1. (relational) ass, donkey
2. stupid, asinine

First/second-declension adjective.

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