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The corpus record — Latin

tenebrae

tenebrae

darkness

Generated live from the audited Latin corpus — every figure on this page is a database query, not prose from memory.

Where it lives

  • Ad Martyras 2 · 13.44/10k
  • Moretum, Appendix Vergiliana 1 · 12.92/10k
  • Apocolocyntosis 3 · 11.07/10k
  • Cathemerina 8 · 10.87/10k
  • Adversus Hermogenem 10 · 9/10k
  • Hamartigenia 5 · 7.82/10k
  • de Bello Gothico 3 · 7.44/10k
  • Peristephanon Liber 13 · 7.4/10k
  • De Pudicitia 9 · 6.69/10k
  • Panegyricus dictus Probino et Olybrio consulibus 1 · 5.88/10k
  • De Cultu Feminarum 3 · 5.86/10k
  • Phaedra 4 · 5.62/10k

Densest 12 of 171 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. tenebrae — de Vaan

tenebrae 'darkness' [f.pL a] (P1.+) Derivatives: tenebrdsus 'dark' (Varro+), tenebrio 'who operates in the dark, dishonest person' (Afran.+), tenebricus * shrouded in darkness' (Pac.+), tenebricosus Mark' (Varro+); contenebrascere 'to become completely dark' (Varro+). Pit *temasra~ 'darkness'. PIE *temH-s-n> [adj.] Mark'. IE cognates: Skt. tamisra- [f.] 'dark night', YAv. tqura- [pi.] 'darkness', MP tar 'darkness', … — [de Vaan, s.v. tenebrae, p. 626]

2. tĕnē^brae — Lewis & Short

tĕnē^brae, ārum (collat. form tĕnē^-bra, ae, f.akin to Sanscr. tamisra, dark; cf. timere,

Lampr. Commod. 16; App. M. 5, p. 167, 25),
I darkness (stronger than obscuritas, and weaker than caligo; freq. and class.).
I Lit.
A In gen.: veluti pueri omnia caecis In tenebris metuant, Lucr. 2, 56: tempestas atque tenebrae Coperiunt maria ac terras, id. 6, 491: cum obscurato sole tenebrae factae essent repente, Cic. Rep. 1, 16, 25; cf.: nos tenebras cogitemus tantas, quantae, etc., id. N. D. 2, 38, 96: tetrae tenebrae et caligo, id. Agr. 2, 17, 44; v. caligo: tenebras et solitudinem nacti, id. Fin. 3, 11, 38: incultu, tenebris, odore foeda atque terribilis ejus (Tulliani) facies est, Sall. C. 55, 4: ipsis noctis tenebris, Quint. 10, 6, 1: obtentā densantur nocte tenebrae, Verg. G. 1, 248: neve velit (Sol) tenebras inducere rebus, Ov. M. 2, 395: tacitae, Sen. Med. 114. —
B In partic.
1 The darkness of night, night: redire luce, non tenebris, Cic. Phil. 2, 30, 76: classem in statione usque ad noctem tenuit: primis tenebris movit, Liv. 31, 23, 4: somnus qui faciat breves tenebras, Mart. 10, 47, 11: tenebris, during the night, Tib. 1, 6, 59; 2, 1, 76; Ov. Am. 1, 6, 10: tenebris obortis, Nep. Eum. 9, 5: per tenebras, Luc. 2, 686: (me) videt pulsis Aurora tenebris, Ov. M. 7, 703: effulget tenebris Aurora fugatis, id. ib. 2, 144.—
2 The darkness or dimness of a swoon, a swoon: tenebrae oboriuntur, genua inedia succidunt, Plaut. Curc. 2, 3, 30; Verg. A. 11, 824; Ov. M. 2, 181; 12, 136; id. Tr. 1, 3, 91; id. H. 13, 23; Luc. 3, 735; Plin. 7, 6, 5, § 41.—
3 The darkness of death, death-shades (poet. and rare): juro, Me tibi ad extremas mansuram tenebras, Prop. 2, 20 (3, 13), 17; cf.: (urbes) ad Erebi profundos hiatus abactae, aeternis tenebris occultantur, Amm. 17, 7, 13; cf. also in a play upon this signif. and that of B. 1.: certum'st mihi ante tenebras (i. e. noctem) tenebras (i. e. mortem) persequi, Plaut. Ps. 1, 1, 88.—
4 Blindness (poet. and very rare): occidit extemplo lumen tenebraeque sequuntur, Lucr. 3, 415: tenebras et cladem lucis ademptae Obicit, Ov. M. 3, 515; 3, 525; Stat. Th. 4, 407. —
C Transf., concr., a dark, gloomy place.
1 A dark bathing-place: Grylli, Mart. 2, 14, 13 (cf. id. 1, 60, 3).—
2 A prison, dungeon: clausi in tenebris, cum maerore et luctu morte graviorem vitam exigunt, Sall. J. 14, 15: in atras et profundas tenebras eum claudebant, Tubero ap. Gell. 6, 4, 3. —
3 Lurking-places, haunts: emersus ex diuturnis tenebris lustrorum ac stuprorum, Cic. Sest. 9, 20: demonstres, ubi sint tuae tenebrae, Cat. 55, 2.—
4 Dark or poor lodgings: quanti nunc tenebras unum conducis in annum, Juv. 3, 225. —
5 The infernal regions: tenebrae malae Orci, Cat. 3, 13: infernae, Verg. A. 7, 325; Hor. C. 4, 7, 25: Stygiae, Verg. G. 3, 551: quid Styga, quid tenebras timetis? Ov. M. 15, 154.—
II Trop., darkness, gloom, obscurity of the mind, of fame, of fortune, fate, etc. (class.): isti tantis offusis tenebris ne scintillam quidem ullam nobis ad dispiciendum reliquerunt, Cic. Ac. 2, 19, 61: obducere tenebras rebus clarissimis, id. ib. 2, 6, 16; cf.: omnibus fulgore quodam suae claritatis tenebras obduxit, Quint. 10, 1, 72: quas tu mihi tenebras cudis? what darkness are you raising about me? i. e. what trick are you playing me? Plaut. Ep. 3, 4, 40: tenebras dispulit calumniae, Phaedr. 3, 10, 42: quae jacerent omnia in tenebris, nisi litterarum lumen accederet, obscurity, concealment, Cic. Arch. 6, 14: vestram familiam abjectam et obscuram e tenebris in lucem evocavit, id. Deiot. 11, 30; cf.: o tenebrae, o lutum, o sordes (Piso)! obscurity, i. e. low birth, baseness, id. Pis. 26, 62; id. Att. 7, 11, 1: vitae, gloomy fate or fortunes, Lucr. 2, 15: qui tibi aestus, qui error, qui tenebrae erunt, Cic. Div. in Caecil. 14, 45: in illis rei publicae tenebris caecisque nubibus et procellis, id. Dom. 10, 24: ex superioris anni caligine et tenebris lucem in re publicā dispicere, id. Red. in Sen. 3, 5: si quid tenebrarum offudit exilium, id. Tusc. 3, 34, 82: tamquam si offusa rei publicae sempiterna nox esset, ita ruebant in tenebris omniaque miscebant, id. Rosc. Am. 32, 91.

In the wild

6 of 639 attestations shown.

Where it came from

  • de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) Treated in de Vaan, Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages (Brill 2008) s.v. tenebrae (scan p. 626; entry #1787). Root candidates: *temasro-, *temH-.
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. tenebrae (scan p. 707; entry #11735).

Latin text and lemmatization derived from the Perseus Digital Library (canonical-latinLit), CC BY-SA 4.0. Lewis & Short (public domain) via Perseus. This derived data is shared under the same CC BY-SA 4.0 license.