senatus

See also: Senatus

English

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *sénosder.

Proto-Italic *senos

Proto-Italic *seneks

Latin senex

Proto-Indo-European *-tus

Proto-Italic *-tus

Latin -tus, -tūs

Latin -ātus

Latin senatusbor.

English senatus

Borrowed from Latin senatus.

Noun

senatus

1. A governing body in certain universities.

Related terms

• senatus academicus

Anagrams

• nasutes, sun teas, unseats

Latin

Etymology

From senex (“old”, stem sen-) +‎ -ātus (group/rank of officials), literally “group of the elders”.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [sɛˈnaː.tʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [seˈnaː.tus]

Noun

senātus m (genitive senātūs); fourth declension

1. alternative letter-case form of Senātus (“the Roman Senate”)
   • 63 BCE, Cicero, In Catilinam orationes 1.2:

     O tempora, o mores! Senatus haec intellegit, consul videt; hic tamen vivit. Vivit?

     Shame on the age and on its principles! The senate is aware of these things; the consul sees them; and yet this man lives. Lives!

   • 8 CE, Ovidius, Fasti 5.63–64:

     ‘nec nisi post annōs patuit tunc cūriā sērōs,
     nōmen et aetātis mīte senātus erat.’

     ‘‘Nor then was the Senate-house open [to a citizen] except after [his] latter years, and [the word] Senate [itself] was the mellow name of old age.’’
     (The muse Urania is speaking. “Senatus,” the Roman Senate, relates to another word that is “aetatis” or “of old age”: senex – i.e., the Senate was a council of elderly men.)

   • c. 82 CE, Arch of Titus:

     SENATVS
     POPVLVSQVE·ROMANVS

     The Senate and the People of Rome

2. senate, a council of elders, parliament, or similar deliberative body

Declension

Fourth-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	senātus	senātūs
genitive	senātūs	senātuum
dative	senātuī	senātibus
accusative	senātum	senātūs
ablative	senātū	senātibus
vocative	senātus	senātūs

Note: Old forms of the genitive singular are senātuis and senātī.

Synonyms

• (governing council): cūria, parlāmentum (Medieval)

Derived terms

• SC
• SCU
• senāculum
• senātūs cōnsultum
• SPQR

Related terms

• senātor
• senātōrius
• senātrīx
• senex

Descendants

Some Romance borrowings may be semi-learned.

• → Armenian: սենատ (senat)
• → Basque: senatu
• → Belarusian: сенат (sjenat)
• → Bulgarian: сенат (senat)
• → Catalan: senat
• → Cornish: senedh
• → Czech: senát
• → Danish: senat
• → Estonian: senat
• → Finnish: senaatti
• → Old French: senat
  • Middle French: senat
    • French: sénat (see there for further descendants)
    • → Dutch: senaat
      • Afrikaans: senaat
      • → Indonesian: senat
    • → Middle English: senat
      • English: senate
        • → Swahili: seneti
• → Georgian: სენატი (senaṭi)
• → German: Senat
• → Hungarian: szenátus
• → Irish: seanad
• → Italian: senato
  • → Maltese: senat
  • → Turkish: senato
• → Ladin: senat
• → Macedonian: сенат (senat)
• → Norwegian: senat
• → Oscan: 𐌔𐌄𐌍𐌀𐌕𐌄𐌝𐌔 (senateís) (learned)
• → Polish: senat
• → Portuguese: senado
• → Romanian: senat
• → Russian: сенат (senat), сена́тъ (senát) — pre-1918 spelling
  • → Kazakh: сенат (senat)
• → Spanish: senado
  • → Cebuano: senado
• → Scottish Gaelic: seanadh
• → Sicilian: sinatu
• → Swedish: senat
• → Ukrainian: сенат (senat)
• → Venetan: senado
• → Welsh: senedd
• → Yiddish: סענאַט (senat)

References

• “senatus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “senatus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "senatus", in Charles du Fresne du Cange, Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “senatus”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎^[1], London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to expel from the senate: e senatu eicere
    
  • to expel from the senate: senatu movere
    
  • to elect to the senate: in senatum legere, eligere
    
  • to call a meeting of the senate: senatum vocare, convocare
    
  • to assemble the senate: senatum cogere (Liv. 3. 39)
    
  • to issue a proclamation calling on the senators to assemble in full force: edicere, ut senatus frequens adsit (Fam. 11. 6. 2)
    
  • to hold a sitting of the senate: senatum habere
    
  • to bring a question before the senate (of the presiding magistrate): ad senatum referre (Cic. Dom. 53. 136)
    
  • to consult the senators on a matter: patres (senatum) consulere de aliqua re (Sall. Iug. 28)
    
  • the senate inclines to the opinion, decides for..: senatus sententia inclīnat ad... (De Sen. 6. 16)
    
  • the senate decreed (and the people ratified the decree) that..: senatus decrevit (populusque iussit) ut
    
  • a resolution of the senate (not opposed by a tribunicial veto) was made: senatus consultum fit (Att. 2. 24. 3)
    
  • the opinion of the senate in general: senatus auctoritas
    
  • to give a man audience before the senate: senatum alicui dare (Q. Fr. 2. 11. 2)
    
  • a matter is referred (for decision) from the senate to the people: a senatu res ad populum reicitur
    
  • to dismiss the senate: dimittere senatum
    
  • night breaks up the sitting: nox senatum dirimit
    
  • the senate decrees to Africanus the honours of a triumph: triumphum senatus Africano decernit (Fin. 4. 9. 22)
    
  • he received from the senate the title of friend: a senatu amicus appellatus est (B. G. 1. 3)
    
• “senatus”, in Harry Thurston Peck, editor (1898), Harper’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, New York: Harper & Brothers
• senatus in Ramminger, Johann (16 July 2016 (last accessed)), Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎^[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016
• “senatus”, in William Smith et al., editor (1890), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities, London: William Wayte. G. E. Marindin

Old English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin senātus.

Noun

senatus m pl

1. the senate of Rome
   • late 9th century, translation of Orosius’ History Against the Pagans

     Æfter þǣm Centenus Penula sē consul bæd þætte senatus him fultum sealdon, þæt hē mehte Hanibal mid ġefohte ġesēċan.

     After that, the consul Centenius Penula asked that the Senate give him aid, so that he could seek to meet Hannibal in battle.

2. senator, the senators of Rome as a body

Usage notes

• This word is typically plural, although there is one attestation of a genitive singular senatuses.
• The nominative/accusative plural of this noun usually appears as senatus (the nominative singular of the Latin senātus), but is also attested as senatas, using the masculine a-stem Old English nominative/accusative plural.

Declension

	singular	plural
nominative	—	senatus, senatas
accusative	—	senatus, senatas
genitive	—	senata
dative	—	senatum

References

• Joseph Bosworth; T. Northcote Toller (1898), “senatus”, in An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, second edition, Oxford: Oxford University Press.