LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininefirst declension

cēna

cēna f (genitive cēnae)
Classical[ˈkeː.na]Ecclesiastical[ˈt͡ʃɛː.na]
Mille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. dinner, supper, principal meal (anciently taken at noon, afterwards later)
  2. Medieval Latinhistoricalgwestva (a duty levied by Welsh kings twice a year upon the free men of their kingdom)

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

cibus quem Rōmānī sub vesperum capiunt; ad cēnam amīcōs vocāmus.
cēna -ae f — in Mille Verba, Cibus et Convīvium
dinner
cēna — in Seneca, ch. XIX

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativecēnacēnae
coenae
genitivecēnae
coenae		cēnārum
coenārum
dativecēnae
coenae		cēnīs
coenīs
accusativecēnam
coenam		cēnās
coenās
ablativecēnācēnīs
coenīs
vocativecēnacēnae
coenae

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

cenam alicui apponere
to set a repast before a person.
inter cenam, inter epulas
during dinner; at table.
condicere alicui (ad cenam)
to invite oneself to some one's house for dinner.
caput cenae (Fin. 2. 8. 25)
the main dish.
aliquem vocare, invitare ad cenam
to invite some one to dinner.
promittere (ad cenam) (Off. 3. 14. 58)
to accept an invitiation to dinner.
adhibere aliquem cenae or ad cenam, convivio or in convivium
to welcome some one to one's table.

cēna (not coena, caena; old form caesna; cf.
I. Casmena for Camena, Fest. p. 205, 15 Müll.), ae, f. Sanscr. khad-, eat; Umbr. çes-na; cf. Gr. κνίζω, the principal meal of the Romans in the early period, taken about midday, dinner, supper (Paul. ex Fest. p. 54, 4; Fest. p. 338, 4 and 368, 8 Müll.); subsequently, the prandium was taken at noon, and the cena was usually begun about the 9th hour, i. e. at 3 o'clock P. M. (v. Dict. of Antiq. s. v. coena; cf.: prandium, jentaculum): cena apud antiquos dicebatur quod nunc est prandium. Vesperna, quam nunc cenam appellamus, Paul. ex Fest. l. l.; Cic. Fam. 9, 26, 1; Mart. 4, 8, 6; Plin. Ep. 3, 1; to begin sooner was an indication of gluttony, Plin. Pan. 49, 6.
(a). With substt.: cenarum ars, Hor. S. 2, 4, 35: caput cenae, Cic. Fin. 2, 8, 25; cf.: mullus cenae caput, Mart. 10, 31, 4: ejus cenae fundus et fundamentum omne erat aula una lentis Aegyptiae, Gell. 17, 8, 1: genus cenae sollemne, viaticum, adventicium, geniale, Philarg. ad Verg. E. 5, 74: honos cenae, Suet. Vesp. 2: inpensae cenarum, Hor. Ep. 1, 19, 38: cenarum magister, Mart. 12, 48, 15: ordo cenae, Petr. 92: cenae pater, Hor. S. 2, 8, 7: o noctes cenaeque deūm! id. ib. 2, 6, 65: mero Pontificum potiore cenis, id. C. 2, 14, 28: Thyestae, id. A. P. 91.—
(b). With adjj.: abundantissima, Suet. Ner. 42: aditialis, Varr. R. R. 3, 6, 6; Sen. Ep. 95, 41: sumptuosa, id. ib. 95, 41: adventicia, Suet. Vit. 13: quorum omnis vigilandi labor in antelucanis cenis expromitur, i. e. lasting all night, Cic. Cat. 2, 10, 22: auguralis, id. Fam. 7, 26, 2: amplior, Juv. 14, 170: bona atque magna, Cat. 13, 3: brevis, Hor. Ep. 1, 14, 35: Cerialis, Plaut. Men. 1, 1, 25: dubia, Ter. Phorm. 2, 2, 28; Hor. S. 2, 2, 77: ebria, Plaut. Cas. 3, 6, 31: grandes, Quint. 10, 1, 58: lautissima, Plin. Ep. 9, 17, 1: libera, open table, Petr. 26: multa de magnā fercula cenā, Hor. S. 2, 6, 104: munda, id. C. 3, 29, 15: cena non minus nitida quam frugi, Plin. Ep. 3, 1, 9: sororia, nuptialis. Plaut. Curc. 5, 2, 60 sq.: Suet. Calig. 25: opimae, Hor. S. 2, 7, 103: popularem quam vocant, Plaut. Trin. 2, 4, 69: prior, i. e. a previous invitation, Hor. Ep. 1, 5, 27: publicae, Suet. Ner. 16: recta, id. Dom. 7; Mart. 2, 69, 7; 7, 19, 2: Saliares, App. M. 4, p. 152, 30: sollemnes, Suet. Tib. 34: subita, Sen. Thyest. 800; Suet. Claud. 21: terrestris, of vegetables, Plaut. Capt. 1, 2, 86: varia, Hor. S. 2, 6, 86: viatica, Plaut. Bacch. 1, 1, 61.—
(g). With verbs: quid ego istius prandia, cenas commemorem? Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 19, § 49; Suet. Vit. 13: cenam apparare, Ter. Heaut. 1, 1, 74: curare, Plaut. Poen. 5, 3, 37: coquere, id. Aul. 2, 7, 3; id. Cas. 3, 6, 28; 4, 1, 8; 4, 2, 2; id. Rud. 4, 7, 38 al.; Nep. Cim. 4, 3: cenas facere, Cic. Att. 9, 13, 6; cf. id. Fam. 9, 24, 2 sq.: anteponere, Plaut. Rud. 2, 6, 25: committere maturo ovo, Varr. ap. Non. p. 249, 8: praebere ternis ferculis, Suet. Aug. 74: ducere, to prolong, Hor. A. P. 376: ministrare, id. S. 1, 6, 116: producere, id. ib. 1, 5, 70: apponere, Ter. Phorm. 2, 2, 28; Suet. Galb. 12: deesse cenae, Quint. 7, 3, 31: instruere pomis et oleribus, Gell. 2, 24 al.: cenam dare alicui, Plaut. Capt. 4, 4, 2; 3, 1, 34; Cic. Fam. 9, 20, 2: cenae adhibere aliquem, Quint. 11, 2, 12; Plin. Ep. 6, 31, 13; Suet. Caes. 73; id. Aug. 74; id. Claud. 32; id. Calig. 25; id. Tit. 9: Taurus accipiebat nos Athenis cenā, Gell. 17, 8, 1: cenam cenavi tuam, Plaut. Rud. 2, 6, 24: obire cenas, Cic. Att. 9, 13, 6: cenam condicere alicui, to engage one's self to any one as a guest, promise to be one's guest, Suet. Tib. 42.—
(d). With prepp.: ante cenam, Cato, R. R. 114; 115, 1: inter cenam, at table, Cic. Q. Fr. 3, 1, 6, § 19; id. Fragm. ap. Quint. 9, 3, 58; id. Phil. 2, 25, 63; Quint. 6, 3, 10; Suet. Galb. 22; id. Aug. 71; in this sense in Suet. several times: super cenam, Suet. Aug. 77; id. Tib. 56; id. Ner. 42; id. Vit. 12; id. Vesp. 22; id. Tit. 8; id. Dom. 21: post cenam, Quint. 1, 10, 19.—(ε) With substt. and prepp.: aliquem Abduxi ad cenam, Ter. Heaut. 1, 2, 9; Cic. Tusc. 5, 32, 91: aliquem ad cenam aliquo condicam foras, Plaut. Men. 1, 2, 18; id. Stich. 3, 1, 38: holera et pisciculos ferre in cenam seni, Ter. And. 2, 2, 32: fit aliquid in cenam, is preparing, Val. Max. 8, 1, 8: ire ad cenam, Ter. Eun. 3, 2, 6: venire ad cenam, Cic. Q. Fr. 3, 1, 6, § 19; Hor. Ep. 1, 7, 61: itare ad cenas, Cic. Fam. 9, 24, 2: invitare ad cenam, id. ib. 7, 9, 3; Quint. 7, 3, 33; Suet. Claud. 4: venire ad cenam, Cic. Fin. 2, 8, 25: promittere ad cenam, Plin. Ep. 1, 15, 1: vocare ad cenam, Cic. Att. 6, 3, 9; Hor. S. 2, 7, 30; Suet. Tib. 6: devocare, Nep. Cim. 4, 3: redire a cenā, Cic. Rosc. Am. 35, 98. —Prov.: cenā comesā venire, i. e. to come too late: post festum, Varr. R. R. 1, 2, 11: cenam rapere de rogo, of unscrupulous greed, Cat. 59, 3.—
II. Meton.
A. A dish, course, at dinner: prima, altera, tertia, Mart. 11, 31, 5 and 6.—*
B. A company at table: ingens cena sedet, Juv. 2, 120.—*
C. The place of an entertainment (cf. cenatio and cenaculum), Plin. 12, 1, 5, § 11.

Origins

From Old Latin cesna, from Proto-Italic *kertsnā (compare Umbrian śesna, Oscan 𐌊𐌄𐌓𐌔𐌍𐌖 (kersnu)), from Proto-Indo-European *kért-sneh₂ (“portion”), from root *(s)kert- (“to cut”), from *(s)ker-. Regarding the phonological development, De Vaan notes that original *-rsn- sequences otherwise yield Latin *-rn- (e. g. perna < *tpḗrsneh₂). Therefore, in Proto-Italic, the *-r- and *-n- must have been separated by an extra vowel or consonant sound that was lost after the regular change of original *-rsn- to Latin *-rn-. Afterwards, the new sequence *kersnā would have evolved into *keznā, before then undergoing deletion of the sibilant and compensatory lengthening (e.g. prīmus < *prīzmos). For cognates, compare Lithuanian kérti, Armenian քերթել (kʻertʻel, “to skin”), Sanskrit कृन्तति (kṛntáti, “he cuts (in pieces)”). Within Latin, related to cortex, scortum.

Elsewhere
  • Catalancena
  • Frenchcène
  • FrenchCène
  • Occitancena
  • Cornishkinnyowfrom Proto-Brythonic *kinjọ
  • Welshciniofrom Proto-Brythonic *kinjọ
Ibero-Romance
  • Portugueseceiafrom Old Galician-Portuguese cẽa
  • Spanishcena
  • Asturiancena
  • Mirandesecena
  • Galicianceafrom Old Galician-Portuguese cẽa
Insular Romance
  • Sardinianchena
  • Sardiniancena
Balkan Romance
  • Romaniancină
  • Aromaniantsinã
Italo-Romance
  • Italiancena
  • Siciliancenafrom Italian cena
  • Neapolitancena
Dalmatian
  • unknowncaina
Padanian
  • Emilianzanna
  • Friuliancene
  • Liguriançenn-a
  • Lombardsèna
  • Lombardzèna
  • Lombardscèna
  • Lombardsina
  • Piedmontesesin-a
  • Piedmontesesen-a
  • Piedmontesesèina
Northern Gallo-Romance
  • Franco-Provençalcéna
Southern Gallo-Romance
  • Aragonesecena

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesCenaCena less correctly COENA (δεῖπνον), the principal meal of the Greeks and Romans, corresponding to our dinner rather than supper. As the meals are not…

Quick answers

What does cēna mean in Latin?
cēna, a noun, means “dinner, supper, principal meal (anciently taken at noon, afterwards later); gwestva (a duty levied by Welsh kings twice a year upon the free men of their kingdom)”.
What is the genitive of cēna?
The genitive singular is cēnae. cēna is feminine, first declension.
How do you pronounce cēna?
In classical Latin, [ˈkeː.na]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈt͡ʃɛː.na].