noun · masculinethird declension
amnis
amnis m (genitive amnis)
Classical[ˈam.nɪs]Ecclesiastical[ˈam.nis]
№ 467 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary
Meaning
- masculinetorrent (any broad, deep flowing, rapid water); stream; river; ocean; liquid; current
[...] ruunt dē montibus amnēs.
[Heavy rain falls:] Torrents rush down the mountains.29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.164 - figurativelymasculinethe flow of well-written text
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
flūmen magnum.amnis -is m — in Mille Verba, Rūs et Agrīcultūra
flūmen magnumamnis -is (m) — in Metamorphoses I, ch. 2, 17
Choosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Fluvius · Flumen · Amnis
Fluvius, flumen, (from φλύω) denote, like ῥόος, ῥεῦμα, an ordinary stream, in opp. to a pond and lake; whereas amnis (ἀμένας, manare,) like ποταμός, a great and mighty river, in opp. to the sea. Cic. Div. i. 50. and Divin. i. 35, 78. Ut flumina in contrarias partes fluxerint, atque in amnes mare influxerit. Tac. Ann. xv. 58. Senec. N. Q. iii. 19. Habet ergo non tantum venas aquarum terra, ex quibus corrivatis flumina effici possunt, sed et amnes magnitudinis vastæ. Then: Hanc magnis amnibus æternam esse materiam, cujus non tangantur extrema sicut fluminum et fontium. Tac. Hist. v. 23. Quo Mosæ fluminis os amnem Rhenum oceano affundit. Curt. ix. 4, 5. (ii. 7.)
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | amnis amniculus | amnēs amniculī |
| genitive | amnis amniculī | amnium amniculōrum |
| dative | amnī amniculō | amnibus amniculīs |
| accusative | amnem amniculum | amnēs amnīs, amniculōs |
| ablative | amne amnī, amniculō | amnibus amniculīs |
| vocative | amnis amnicule | amnēs amniculī |
amnis, is, m. (
I. fem., Plaut. Merc. 5, 2, 18; Naev. and Att. ap. Non. 191, 33; Varr. R. R. 3, 5, 9; cf. Prisc. pp. 652 and 658 P.; Rudd. I. p. 26, n. 37; Schneid. Gram. 2, 98; abl. regularly amne;
but freq. amni in the poets, Verg. G. 1, 203; 3, 447; Hor. S. 1, 10, 62; Col. R. R. 10, 136; also in prose, Liv. 21, 5; 21, 27 al.; cf. Prisc. p. 766; Rhem. Pal. 1374 P.; Rudd. I. p. 85, n. 85) [qs. for apnis from Sanscr. ap = water; n. plur. āpas. Van.; v. aqua], orig., any broad and deep-flowing, rapid water; a stream, torrent, river (hence, esp. in the poets, sometimes for a rapidly-flowing stream or a torrent rushing down from a mountain = torrens; sometimes for a large river, opp. fluvius (a common river); sometimes also for the ocean as flowing round the land; it most nearly corresponds with our stream; in prose not often used before the histt. of the Aug. per.; in Cic. only in Aratus and in his more elevated prose; never in his Epistt.). I. Lit.: acervos altā in amni, Att., Trag. Rel. p. 178 Rib.: apud abundantem antiquam amnem et rapidas undas Inachi, Att. ap. Non. 192, 4 (Trag. Rel. p. 175 Rib.):
Sic quasi amnis celeris rapit, sed tamen inflexu flectitur, Naev. Trag. Rel. p. 12 Rib.; Plaut. Poen. 3, 3, 15: molibus incurrit validis cum viribus amnis, Lucr. 1, 288 (v. the whole magnificent description, 1, 282- 290): Nilus unicus in terris, Aegypti totius amnis, id. 6, 714: ruunt de montibus amnes, Verg. A. 4, 164: amnes magnitudinis vastae, Sen. Q. N. 3, 19.—Also in distinction from the sea: cum pontus et amnes cuncti invicem commeant, Sen. Q. N. 4, 2.—On the contr. of the ocean, acc. to the Gr. Ὠκεανὸς ποταμός (Hom. Od. 11, 639): Oceani amnis, the ocean-stream, Verg. G. 4, 233: quā fluitantibus undis Solis anhelantes abluit amnis equos, Tib. 2, 5, 60: Nox Mundum caeruleo laverat amne rotas, id. 3, 4, 18 al.—II. Transf.
A. Poet., of the constellation Eridanus:
Eridanum cernes funestum magnis cum viribus amnem, Cic. Arat. 145 (as a transl. of the Gr. λείψανον Ἠριδανοῖο, πολυκλαύστου ποταμοῖο, Arat. Phaenom. 360): Scorpios exoriens cum clarus fugerit amnis, Germanic. Arat. 648; cf. id. ib. 362. —B. Also poet. and in post-class. prose, any thing flowing, liquid, Verg. A. 12, 417; 7, 465:
amnis musti, Pall. 11, 14, 18.—C. Of a writer, whose eloquence is thus compared to a flowing stream (v. flumen, II. B. and fluo, II. 2. B. 1.): alter (Herodotus) sine ullis salebris quasi sedatus amnis (i. e. a noiseless stream flowing on in majestic size and fulness) fluit;
alter (Thucydides) incitatior fertur, Cic. Or. 12, 39.—D. Like flumen, as abstr., a current, stream: secundo amni, down or with the stream, Verg. G. 3, 447:
adverso amne, up the stream, Curt. 10, 1 al.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
amnis is (abl. amne or amnī, V., H., L.), m
3 AC-, AP-, a river: Tiberinus, L.: si amnes exaruissent: navium patiens, L.: taciturnus, H.: secundo amni, down-stream, V.—Fig.: abundantissimus amnis artium.—Poet., a torrent: ruunt de montibus amnes, V.: Oceani amnis, the oceanstream, V.—Of water in vessels: aquai Fumidus amnis, the stream, V.: fusus, V. — A river-god: Convocat amnīs, O.: domus magni Amnis, O.
Origins
From Proto-Indo-European *h₂ebʰ-n- (“river”), from the root *h₂ebʰ-, *h₂ep- (“water”). Compare Old Irish aub (“river”), Albanian amë (“river”).
In English words that came into English from amnis
- interamnianamnis
- amnicolousamnicola
- amnicolistamnicola