hiems

Latin

Alternative forms

  • hiemps (usual but advised against by analogist grammarians)
  • hyems

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *hiem-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéyōm or similar.

Cognate with Ancient Greek χιών (khiṓn, snow), χεῖμα (kheîma, winter, storm), χειμών (kheimṓn, winter, storm), Persian زمستان (zemestân), Albanian dimër, Welsh gaeaf, Sanskrit हिम (himá), Hittite 𒄀𒈠𒀭 (gi-ma-an /⁠giman⁠/), Armenian ձմեռ (jmeṙ), and Proto-Slavic *zima.

Pronunciation

Noun

hiems f (genitive hiemis); third declension

  1. winter
    Synonym: (Late Latin) hībernum
    • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.235–236:
      quid, quod hiems adoperta gelū tunc dēnique cēdit, et pereunt lāpsae sōle tepente nivēs
      What of the fact that then frost-covered winter finally gives way, and the snows perish, melted in the warming sun; [...]. (trans. Anne and Peter Wiseman, 2011)
  2. storm, stormy weather, tempest

Declension

Third-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative hiems hiemēs
genitive hiemis hiemum
dative hiemī hiemibus
accusative hiemem hiemēs
ablative hieme hiemibus
vocative hiems hiemēs

Synonyms

Derived terms

Further reading

  • hiems”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • hiems”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
  • "hiems", 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)
  • hiems”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
    • in the height of summer, depth of winter: summa aestate, hieme
    • winter is at hand: hiems subest