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The corpus record — Latin

tenuis

tenuis

slender, thin, fine

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

Where it lives

Densest 12 of 161 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. tenuis — de Vaan

tenuis 'slender, thin, fine' [adj. ί\ (ΡΙ.+) Derivatives: tenuitas 'scantiness, thinness* (Cato+), tenuare 'to make thin, reduce, narrow* (LuciL+); subtenuis 'rather fine in structure' (Varro); attenuare 'to make slender, weaken' (Lucr.+), extenuare 'to make thin, diminish' (Varro+). tepeo Pit. *tp(a)u-. PIE *tnh2-(e)u- 'thin'. IE cognates: Olr. tanae, W. teneu, C. tanow, Bret, tanao 'delicate, thin' < PCI. *tanauo … — [de Vaan, s.v. tenuis, p. 627]

2. tĕnŭis — Lewis & Short

tĕnŭis, e (in the poets also as dissyl. tēnuis, and hence sometimes written ten-vis,

Lucr. 1, 875; 2, 232; 3, 232 al.; cf.
I tenuia and tenuius, trisyl., id. 4, 66; 4, 808; 3, 243, v. Carey, Lat. Prosody, § 47), adj. root in Sanscr. tanu; ten., Gr. tei/nw; prop. stretched out, drawn out; v. teneo; hence, thin, fine, close, etc. (syn.: gracilis, exilis).
I Lit.
1 Of texture, fine, thin: subtemen, Plaut. Merc. 3, 1, 20: vestes, Tib. 2, 3, 53: vestes, Ov. A. A. 3, 707: amictus, id. M. 4, 104: togae, Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 32: toga filo tenuissima, Ov. A. A. 3, 445: tunicae, id. F. 2, 319: natura oculos membranis tenuissimis vestivit et saepsit, Cic. N. D. 2, 57, 142: pellis, Ov. A. A. 3, 77: arietes tenuioris velleris, Col. 7, 2, 5.—
2 Of substance, thin, rare, fine: tenue caelum (opp. crassum), Cic. Fat. 4, 7; so, tenue purumque caelum, id. Div. 1, 57, 130: aër, rare (with purus), id. N. D. 2, 16, 42; cf.: aethereus locus tenuissimus est, id. ib. 2, 15, 42: capilli, Ov. Am. 1, 14, 5: comae, Tib. 1, 9, 68: rima, Ov. M. 4, 65: vinum, thin, watery, Plin. 14, 9, 11, § 80; 15, 28, 33, § 110; 23, 1, 22, § 39: aqua, clear, Ov. F. 2, 250; cf. sanguis (opp. crassus), Plin. 11, 38, 90, § 221: agmen (militum), Liv. 25, 23, 16: acies, Tac. A. 1, 64; cf. pluviae, Verg. G. 1, 92.—
3 Of form, slim, thin, lank, slender, fine: penna, Hor. C. 2, 20, 1: cauda (piscis), Ov. M. 4, 726: acus, id. Am. 3, 7, 30: tabellae, Mart. 14, 3, 1: nitedula, thin, lank, meagre, Hor. Ep. 1, 7, 29; cf.: canes macie tenues, Nemes. Cyn. 137: Gellius, Cat. 89, 1: Thais, Mart. 11, 101, 1: umbra (defuncti), Tib. 3, 2, 9; cf.: animae (defunctorum), Ov. M. 14, 411; id. F. 2, 565. —
4 Of sounds, weak, thin: vox, Pompon. ap. Macr. S. 6, 4, 12 (Com. Rel. v. 59 Rib.); Quint. 11, 3, 32. —
B Transf., in gen., little, slight, trifling, poor, mean, etc.: oppidum tenue sane, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 22, § 53; cf.: magnae quondam urbis tenue vestigium, Plin. 3, 4, 5, § 32: murus, Cic. Rep. 4, 4, 4: amnis, Plin. 3, 5, 9, § 53: aqua, shallow, Liv. 1, 4, 6; Ov. F. 2, 250; Quint. 12, 2, 11: rivulus, Cic. Rep. 2, 19, 34: sulcus, Verg. G. 1, 68: foramen, Plin. 16, 36, 66, § 165: intervallum, id. 31, 2, 2, § 4: insignis tenui fronte Lycoris, Hor. C. 1, 33, 5: tenuem victum antefert copioso, Cic. Tusc. 3, 20, 49; so, victus, id. Fin. 2, 28, 90; id. Lael. 23, 86; Hor. S. 2, 2, 53: mensa, id. C. 2, 16, 14: cibus, Phaedr. 4, 13, 7: tenuissimum patrimonium, Auct. Her. 4, 38, 50: opes, Cic. Quint. 1, 2: res (familiaris), Hor. Ep. 1, 20, 20; cf. census, id. ib. 1, 7, 56: honores, Nep. Milt. 6, 2: praeda, Caes. B. G. 6, 35: tenuissimum lumen, Cic. N. D. 2, 19, 50: pumex, i. e. light, Prop. 3 (4), 1, 8. — Transf., of poor persons: tenuis (opp. locuples), Cic. Off. 2, 20, 70: servus sit an liber, pecuniosus an tenuis, id. Inv. 1, 25, 35: fortunae constitui tenuiorum videbantur, id. Sest. 48, 103; cf.: locupletissimi cujusque census extenuarant, tenuissimi auxerant, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 55, § 138: tenuis et obaeratus, Suet. Caes. 46: Regulus, Plin. Ep. 2, 20, 13.—With gen.: tenuis opum, Sil. 6, 19.—
II Trop.
A Fine, nice, delicate, subtle, exact (syn.: elegans, subtilis): tenuis et acuta distinctio, Cic. Ac. 2, 14, 43; cf.: tenues autem differentias (praecepta) habent, Sen. Ep. 94, 35: (oratores) tenues, acuti, Cic. Or. 5, 20; so, orator, id. ib. 24, 81; Quint. 12, 10, 21: aures, Lucr. 4, 913: cura, Ov. P. 4, 6, 37: Athenae, elegant, Mart. 6, 64, 17: rationes latiore specie, non ad tenue limatae, Cic. Ac. 2, 20, 66: textum dicendi, Quint. 10, 1, 64.— Subst.: tĕnŭe, is, n., that which is subtle (opp. comprehensibile), Lact. 7, 4, 12.—
B Transf. (acc. to I. B.), weak, trifling, insignificant, mean, low: cum tenuissimā valetudine esset, weak, feeble, delicate, Caes. B. G. 5, 40: tenuis atque infirmus animus, id. B. C. 1, 32: ingenium (opp. forte), Quint. 10, 2, 19: tenuis et angusta ingeni vena, id. 6, 2, 3: tenuis exsanguisque sermo, Cic. de Or. 1, 13, 57; Quint. 8, 3, 18: in ininimis tenuissimisque rebus labi, Cic. de Or. 1, 37, 169: tenuissimarum rerum jura, id. Caecin. 12, 34: artificium perquam tenue et leve, id. de Or. 1, 28, 129: grammatica, ars tenuis ac jejuna, Quint. 1, 4, 5: inanis et tenuis spes, Cic. Rosc. Com. 14, 43; cf.: spes tenuior, id. Att. 3, 19, 2: suspitio, id. Caecin. 15, 43: causa tenuis et inops, id. Fam. 9, 12, 2: curae, Verg. G. 1, 177: gloria, id. ib. 4, 6: damnum, Tac. A. 12, 39: negotia paulo ad dicendum tenuiora, Quint. 12, 9, 8: nec sua plus debet tenui Verona Catullo, i. e. to the author of trifling, amorous lays, Mart. 10, 103, 5; v. tenuo, II. —
2 Esp., of rank, standing, etc., low, inferior, common: tenuiores, men of lower rank, the lower orders, Cic. Leg. 3, 10, 24; cf.: tenuis L. Virginius unusque de multis, id. Fin. 2, 20, 66: tenuissimus quisque, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 47, § 123: homines, id. Mur. 34, 70; cf.: commoti animi tenuiorum, id. ib. 23, 47: si obscuri erunt aut tenues, id. Part. Or. 34, 117: qui tenuioris ordinis essent, id. Leg. 3, 13, 30: adulescentes tenui loco orti, Liv. 2, 3, 2. — Hence, adv.: tĕnŭĭter.
1 Lit.
a Thinly: alutae tenuiter confectae, Caes. B. G. 3, 13.—
b Indifferently, poorly: Da. Quid rei gerit? Ge. Sic, tenuiter. Da. Non multum habet, Quod det, etc., Ter. Phorm. 1, 2, 95.—
2 Trop.
a Finely, acutely, exactly, subtilely: tenuiter disserere, Cic. Or. 14, 46: tenuiter multa, multa sublimiter tenere, Plin. Ep. 4, 27, 1: scribere (with argute), id. ib. 6, 21, 4: tenuiter et argute multa disserit, Gell. 6, 2, 6.—Comp.: illae (argumentationes) tenuius et acutius et subtilius tractantur, Cic. Inv. 2, 16, 51.—
b Lightly, slightly, superficially: mihi nimium tenuiter Siculorum erga te voluntatis argumenta colligere videor, Cic. Verr. 2, 2, 65, § 157; Auct. Her. 3, 8, 15; 4, 36, 48.— Sup.: tenuissime aestimare, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 16, § 35.

In the wild

6 of 1,063 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. tenuis (scan pp. 627-628; entry #1792). Root candidates: *tnHu-, *ten-.
  • Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. tenuis (scan p. 708; entry #11757).

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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.