LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · femininefirst declension

hōra

hōra f (genitive hōrae)
Classical[ˈhoː.ra]Ecclesiastical[ˈɔː.ra]
№ 664 of the 1,000 commonest wordsMille Verba core vocabulary

Meaning

  1. hour
    c. 1050?, Ave Maria (Hail Mary)And in the hour of our death.
  2. time
    Dum loquor, hora fugit.Even as I speak, time fleeteth way.c. 2 A.D., Ovid, Ars Amatoria (The Art of Love, ELEGY XI)
  3. o'clock
  4. season; time of year

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

pars diēī; diēs Rōmānus duodecim hōrās habet.
hōra -ae f — in Mille Verba, Tempus et Numerī
an hour
hōra — in Seneca, ch. I

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativehōrahōrae
genitivehōraehōrārum
dativehōraehōrīs
accusativehōramhōrās
ablativehōrāhōrīs
vocativehōrahōrae

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

horā citius
an hour too soon.
quota hora est?
what time is it?
tertia hora est
it is the third hour (= 9 A.M.)
ad horam compositam
at the time agreed on.

hōra, ae (archaic
I. gen. sing. horāï, Lucr. 1, 1016.—In abl. plur. HORABVS, Inscr. Orell. 4601), f. kindred with ὥρα; Zend yare, year; ayara, day; orig. for ϝοsara, from ϝέαρ, ver, (lit., a definite space of time, fixed by natural laws; hence, as in Greek).
I. An hour.
A. Lit. (among the Romans, of varying length, according to the time of year, from sunrise to sunset being reckoned as twelve hours; cf.: aetas, aevum, tempus, dies): aestiva, Mart. 12, 1, 4; cf.: viginti milia passuum horis quinque duntaxat aestivis conficienda sunt, Veg. Mil. 1, 9: horam amplius jam in demoliendo signo moliebantur, Cic. Verr. 2, 4, 43, § 95: īdem eadem possunt horam durare probantes? Hor. Ep. 1, 1, 82: ternas epistolas in hora dare, Cic. Fam. 15, 16, 1: in hora saepe ducentos versus dictabat, Hor. S. 1, 4, 9: horas tres dicere, Cic. Att. 4, 2, 4: primum dormiit ad horas tres, id. ib. 10, 13, 1: quatuor horarum spatio antecedens, Caes. B. C. 3, 79 fin.: quatuor aut plures aulaea premuntur in horas, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 189: non amplius quam septem horas dormiebat, Suet. Aug. 78: haec (cogitatio) paucis admodum horis magnas etiam causas complectitur, Quint. 10, 6, 1: paucissimarum horarum consulatus, Plin. 7, 53, 54, § 181: hora quota est? what o'clock is it? Hor. S. 2, 6, 44: nuntiare horas, to tell the time of day, Juv. 10, 216; cf.: cum a puero quaesisset horas, Plin. 7, 53, 54, § 182; Suet. Dom. 16: si te grata quies et primam somnus in horam Delectat, Hor. Ep. 1, 17, 6: hora secunda postridie, Cic. Quint. 6, 25: quartā vix demum exponimur horā, Hor. S. 1, 5, 23: cum ad te quinta fere hora venissem, Cic. Pis. 6, 13: ea res acta est, cum hora sexta vix Pompeius perorasset, usque ad horam octavam, id. Q. Fr. 2, 3, 2: hora fere nona, id. ib.: hora diei decima fere, id. Phil. 2, 31, 77: hora fere undecima aut non multo secus, id. Mil. 10, 29: prima salutantes atque altera continet hora; Exercet raucos tertia causidicos: In quintam varios extendit Roma labores: Sexta quies lassis, septima finis erit, etc., Mart. 4, 8: post horam primam noctis. ... decem horis nocturnis, Cic. Rosc. Am. 7, 19: prima noctis, Suet. Aug. 76: tribus nocturnis, id. Calig. 50: id quidem in horam diei quintam vel octavam spectare maluerint, i. e., towards that part of the heavens where the sun is at the fifth or eighth hour, Plin. 17, 11, 16, § 84; 6, 32, 37, § 202: hic tu fortasse eris diligens, ne quam ego horam de meis legitimis horis remittam, of the hours allowed to an orator, Cic. Verr. 2, 1, 9, § 25: hora partūs, the hour of one's birth, natal hour, Suet. Aug. 94: hora natalis, Hor. C. 2, 17, 19: mortis, Suet. Dom. 14: cenae, id. Claud. 8: pugnae, id. Aug. 16: somni, id. Dom. 21 et saep.: ad horam venire, at the hour, punctually, Sen. Q. N. 2, 16: clavum mutare in horas, every hour, hourly, Hor. S. 2, 7, 10; id. C. 2, 13, 14; id. A. P. 160; Plin. Ep. 3, 17, 3.—
2. Prov.
a. In horam vivere, to care only for the passing hour, to live from hand to mouth, Cic. Phil. 5, 9, 25.—
b. Omnium horarum homo (amicus, etc.), ready, active, well disposed at all times, Quint. 6, 3, 110 Spald.; Suet. Tib. 42 (for which: C. Publicium solitum dicere, P. Mummium cuivis tempori hominem esse, Cic. de Or. 2, 67, 271).—
B. Transf., in plur.: hōrae, ārum, a horologe, dial, clock: cum machinatione quadam moveri aliquid videmus, ut sphaeram, ut horas, Cic. N. D. 2, 38, 97; Petr. 71; cf.: videt oscitantem judicem, mittentem ad horas, to look at the clock, Cic. Brut. 54, 200.—
II. Poet., in gen., time, time of year, season: tu quamcumque deus tibi fortunaverit horam, Grata sume manu, Hor. Ep. 1, 11, 22: et mihi forsan, tibi quod negarit, Porriget hora, id. C. 2, 16, 31: neu fluitem dubiae spe pendulus horae, id. Ep. 1, 18, 110: qui recte vivendi prorogat horam, id. ib. 1, 2, 41: extremo veniet mollior hora die, Prop. 2, 28 (3, 24), 16: numquam te crastina fallet Hora, Verg. G. 1, 426: sub verni temporis horam, Hor. A. P. 302; so of spring: genitalis anni, Plin. 9, 35, 54, § 107: flagrantis atrox hora Caniculae, Hor. C. 3, 13, 9: (hae latebrae) Incolumem tibi me praestant Septembribus horis, id. Ep. 1, 16, 16: arbor ipsa omnibus horis pomifera est, at all seasons, all the year round, Plin. 12, 3, 7, § 15.—
III. Personified: Hōrae, ārum, f., like the Gr. Ὥραι, the Hours, daughters of Jupiter and Themis, goddesses that presided over the changes of the seasons and kept watch at the gates of heaven, Ov. M. 2, 26; 118; Val. Fl. 4, 92; Stat. Th. 3, 410; Ov. F. 1, 125; 5, 217; Hyg. Fab. 183.
Hō^ra, ae, f. perh. an old form for hĕra, lady,
I. the wife of Quirinus (Romulus), who was worshipped as a goddess (called, before her death, Hersilia, Ov. M. 14, 830): Quirine pater, veneror, Horamque Quirini, Enn. ap. Non. 120, 2 (Ann. v. 121 Vahl.): Hora Quirini, Gell. 13, 22, 2; cf.: pariter cum corpore nomen Mutat Horamque vocat, Ov. M. 14, 851.

Origins

  1. Proto-Indo-European*(H)yeh₁-der.?
  2. Proto-Indo-European*yóh₁r̥
  3. Latinhōra

Ancient Greek ὥρᾱ (hṓrā)bor. Latin hōra From Ancient Greek ὥρᾱ (hṓrā, “time, season, year”), from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₁- (“year, season”).

Southern Gallo-Romance
  • Catalanhora
  • Occitanora
Ibero-Romance
  • Portuguesehorafrom Old Galician-Portuguese ora
  • Portugueseorafrom Old Galician-Portuguese ora
  • Asturianhora
  • Mirandesehora
  • Galicianhorafrom Old Galician-Portuguese ora
  • Galicianorafrom Old Galician-Portuguese ora
  • Old Spanishora
Insular Romance
  • Sardinianòra
Balkano-Romance
  • Romanianoară
  • Aromanianoarã
  • Aromanianore
Italo-Dalmatian
  • Italianora
  • Corsicanora
  • Dalmatianjaura
  • Istriotura
  • Sicilianura
  • Venetanóra
Elsewhere
  • Romanianoră
  • Albanianherë
  • Albanianorë
  • Basqueoren
  • Idohorofrom Esperanto horo
  • Hungarianóra
  • Old Irishúar
  • Proto-Brythonic*ọr
Rhaeto-Romance
  • Friulianore
  • Ladinora
  • Ladinëura
  • Romanshura
  • Romanshoura
Gallo-Italic
  • Emilianåura
  • Emilianora
  • Ligurianôa
  • Lombardùra
  • Piedmonteseora
Northern Gallo-Romance
  • Franco-Provençalhora
  • Old Frenchhoure

In the Academy Smith's classical dictionaries

AntiquitiesHoraHora (ὥρα), in the signification of hour, that is, the 12th part of the natural day, did not come into general use among the ancients until about the …

Quick answers

What does hōra mean in Latin?
hōra, a noun, means “hour; time; o'clock”.
What is the genitive of hōra?
The genitive singular is hōrae. hōra is feminine, first declension.
How do you pronounce hōra?
In classical Latin, [ˈhoː.ra]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈɔː.ra].
Where does hōra come from?
Proto-Indo-European *(H)yeh₁-der.? → Proto-Indo-European *yóh₁r̥ → Latin hōra.