crīnis
Meaning
- hair of the head, lock of hair, plume
Nōndum illī flāvum Prōserpina vertice crīnem
Proserpina had not yet taken that lock of blonde hair from [Dido’s] head, [nor] condemned [the queen’s] life to Stygian Orcus. (Frieze, Henry [1876], Virgil’s Aeneid, 2nd ed., pg 463: “A lock of hair is cut from the forehead of the dying as a sign of dedication to the gods below.”)29 BCE – 19 BCE, Vergilius, Aeneis 4.698-699 - tail of a comet
Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers
capilluscapillus, comaChoosing the right word Döderlein's Latin Synonyms
Crinis · Capillus · Coma · Cæsaries · Pilus · Cirrus · Cincinnus
1. Crinis and capillus denote the natural hair merely in a physical sense, like θρίξ; crinis (from κάρηνον), any growth of hair, in opposition to the parts on which hair does not grow; capillus (from caput), only the hair of the head, in opp. to the beard, etc. Liv. vi. 16. Suet. Aug. 23. Cels. vi. 2. Cic. Tusc. v. 20. Rull. ii. 5; whereas in coma and cæsaries the accessory notion of beauty, as an object of sense, is involved, inasmuch as hair is a natural ornament of the body, or itself the object of ornament; coma (κόμη) is especially applicable to the hair of females; cæsaries, to that of males, like ἔθειρα. Hence crinitus means nothing more than covered with hair; capillatus is used in opp. to bald-headed, Petron. 26, and the Galli are styled comati, as wearing long hair, like καρηκομόωντες. 2. Crinis, capillus, coma, cæsaries, denote the hair in a collective sense, the whole growth of hair; whereas pilus means a single hair, and especially the short and bristly hair of animals. Hence pilosus is in opp. to the beautiful smoothness of the skin, as Cic. Pis. I; whereas crinitus and capillatus are in opp. to ugly nakedness and baldness. (iii. 14.) 3. Cirrus and cincinnus denote curled hair; cirrus (κόῤῥη) is a natural, cincinnus (κίκιννος) an artificial curl. (iii. 23.)
Declension
| form | singular | plural |
|---|---|---|
| nominative | crīnis | crīnēs |
| genitive | crīnis | crīnium |
| dative | crīnī | crīnibus |
| accusative | crīnem | crīnēs crīnīs |
| ablative | crīne | crīnibus |
| vocative | crīnis | crīnēs |
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- passis crinibus
- with dishevelled hair.
- promittere crinem, barbam
- to grow one's hair, beard long.
esp. freq. in the poets), Cic. Verr. 2, 3, 33, § 76; Caes. B. G. 1, 51; id. B. C. 3, 9; Liv. 1, 13, 1; 3, 7, 8 et saep.; Verg. A. 1, 480; Cat. 64, 391; Hor. C. 2, 5, 24; 2, 19, 20 et saep.: capere crines, i. e. to marry (since the matrons distinguished themselves from maidens by their hair-dress), Plaut. Most. 1, 3, 69; cf. id. Mil. 3, 1, 195; and Fest. p. 339, 23 Müll.—Collectively, in sing., = crines, Hor. C. 1, 32, 12; 2, 12, 23 sq.—uxor rufa crinibus septem, Mart. 12, 32, 4.—conchas (polypi) conplexu crinium frangunt, Plin. 9, 29, 46, § 86; of the cuttle-fish, Apic. 2, 1.—crines ramentorum, Plin. 16, 42, 82, § 225.Charlton Lewis's shorter dictionary for students: the same scholarship in plain, modern definitions.
Origins
From Proto-Italic *kriznis, probably from a Proto-Indo-European *kris-ni-s, from a root *(s)kreys- (“to shake”) (whose relation to *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”), if any, is uncertain), and cognate with Proto-Germanic *hrisjaną (“to shake”). Under this interpretation, hair is something which one can shake back and forth. This is tentatively accepted by de Vaan, albeit with significant reservations. Compare also Latin crista, crispus (“curly”), and Albanian krip.
- Italiancrine
- Italiancrina
- Catalancrin
- Frenchcrin
- Normancrîn
- Portuguesecrina
- Spanishcrin
- Asturianclin
- Asturianclina
- Galiciancrina
- Galiciancrencha