The corpus record — Latin

vena

blood-vessel

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

Where it lives

Saturae 5 · 11.04/10k
Panegyricus dictus Manlio Theodoro consuli 2 · 9.3/10k
De Medicina 89 · 8.68/10k
Carminum minorum corpusculum 7 · 8.29/10k
Mosella 2 · 6.15/10k
Panegyricus dictus Probino et Olybrio consulibus 1 · 5.88/10k
Cathemerina 4 · 5.43/10k
Oedipus 3 · 5.06/10k
Thyestes 3 · 4.76/10k
Hamartigenia 3 · 4.69/10k
Pescennius Niger 1 · 4.39/10k
Vitellius 1 · 4.15/10k

Densest 12 of 96 attested works shown, by occurrences per 10,000 attested tokens.

What it meant

1. vena — de Vaan

vena 'blood-vessel' [f. a\ (Cato+) Pit. *wes-no/a- [adj./f.] 'blood-vessel'. PIE *ues-no- 'of blood'. IE cognates: Av. vaqhu-tat- 'blood', ναηΗηδβα- [η.] 'bloodshed', vohuna- [m.] 'blood' < *ues-u-\ Skt. vasa, vaso cfat, lard' (hesitantly EWAia II: 533). No agreed etymology. Muller 1926: 531 points to an old belief that the veins may be compared to air pipes (Cato Agr. 157, 7: venae ubi sufflatae sunt ex cibo, non … — [de Vaan, s.v. vena, p. 674]

2. vēna — Lewis & Short

vēna, ae, f.perh. root veh-, to carry, etc.; prop. a pipe, channel; Gr. o)xeto/s,

I a blood-vessel, vein.

I Lit.

1 In gen.: venae et arteriae a corde tractae et profectae in corpus omne ducuntur, Cic. N. D. 2, 55, 139: venam incidere, id. Pis. 34, 83; Cels. 2, 10: bracchiorum venas interscindere, Tac. A. 15, 35: abrumpere, id. ib. 15, 59: abscindere, id. ib. 15, 69: exsolvere, id. ib. 16, 17; 16, 19: pertundere, Juv. 6, 46: secare, Suet. Vit. Luc.: ferire, Verg. G. 3, 460: solvere, Col. 6, 14, 3.—

2 In partic., an artery: si cui venae sic moventur, is habet febrem, Cic. Fat. 8, 15; Cels. 3, 6: tentare, to feel the pulse, Suet. Tib. 72 fin.; for which, tangere, Pers. 3, 107; Sid. Ep. 22: si protinus venae conciderunt, i. e. the pulse has sunk or fallen, Cels. 3, 5; cf.: venis fugientibus, Ov. P. 3, 1, 69.—

B Transf., of things that resemble veins.

1 A water-course, Hirt. B. G. 8, 43; Auct. B. Alex. 8, 1: fecundae vena aquae, Ov. Tr. 3, 7, 16; Mart. 10, 30, 10.—

2 A vein of metals, Cic. N. D. 2, 60, 151; Juv. 9, 31.—

3 The urinary passage, Cels. 4, 1.—

4 A vein or streak of wood, Plin. 16, 38, 73, § 184; 13, 15, 30, § 97. —Of stone, Plin. 37, 6, 24, § 91; Stat. S. 1, 3, 36.—

5 A row of trees in a garden, Plin. 17, 11, 15, § 76.—

6 = membrum virile, Mart. 4, 66, 12; 6, 49, 2; 11, 16, 5; Pers. 6, 72.—

II Trop.

A The strength: vino fulcire venas cadentes, Sen. Ep. 95, 22; id. Ben. 3, 9, 22; cf. Hor. S. 2, 3, 153.—

B The interior, the innate or natural quality or nature of a thing: periculum residebit et erit inclusum penitus in venis et visceribus rei publicae, Cic. Cat. 1, 13, 31: (orator) teneat oportet venas cujusque generis, aetatis, ordinis, the innermost feelings, the spring, pulse, id. de Or. 1, 52, 223: si ulla vena paternae disciplinae in nobis viveret, Sev. ap. Spart. Pesc. 3.—

C For a person's natural bent, genius, disposition, vein (the fig. taken from veins of metal): ego nec studium sine divite venā, Nec rude quid possit video ingenium, Hor. A. P. 409: tenuis et angusta ingenii, Quint. 6, 2, 3: benigna ingenii, Hor. C. 2, 18, 10: publica (vatis), Juv. 7, 53.

3. véna — Walde–Hofmann

véna, -ae f. „Ader, Blutader^ (seit Cato, Acc., Lucil, rom.), venula, -ae f, „Äderchen“ seit Cels., vänösus, -a, -um „aderreich“ seit Plin., rom.; vendtilis Cassiod. (nach aqu-, Ernout-Meillet? 1082): Et. unsicher. Kaum nach Persson Beitr. 513. 957, wie vénári, aus *ud(f)-nà oder *ue(i)-en-à, ist doch die Herleitung von via bei Isid. orig. 11, 1, 121 venae dictae e0, quod viae sint natantis sanguinis atque rivi per … — [Walde–Hofmann, s.v. véna, p. 1654]

In the wild

venae Cicero, Tusculanae Disputationes 2.19
venas Celsus, De Medicina 4.7
venas Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 2.79.p1
vena Pliny the Elder, Naturalis Historia 33.7.p5
venas Tacitus, Annales 11.p3
venas Seneca, Ad Lucilium Epistulae Morales 14.90.12

6 of 430 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. vena (scan p. 674; entry #1935). Root candidates: *uegh-, *vahu-.
Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine Treated in Ernout-Meillet, Dictionnaire etymologique de la langue latine s.v. uéna (scan p. 743; entry #12405).
Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch Treated in Walde-Hofmann, Lateinisches etymologisches Worterbuch s.v. véna (scan p. 1654; entry #3176). Root candidates: *uak-.

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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.