LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
noun · neutersecond declension

scrīnium

scrīnium n (genitive scrīniī or scrīnī)
Classical[ˈskriː.ni.ũː]Ecclesiastical[ˈskriː.ni.um]

Meaning

  1. case or chest for books or papers
  2. portfolio, briefcase
  3. desk (for writing)
  4. Medieval Latinchancery, archive, notarial department
  5. Medieval Latinreliquary

Latīnē defined in Latin in our graded readers

capsa scrīptōrum
scrīnium -ī (n) — in Epistulae, ch. 14

Declension

declension
formsingularplural
nominativescrīniumscrīnia
genitivescrīniī
scrīnī		scrīniōrum
dativescrīniōscrīniīs
accusativescrīniumscrīnia
ablativescrīniōscrīniīs
vocativescrīniumscrīnia

scrīnĭum, ii, n. scribo.
I. Lit., a case, chest, or box for keeping books, papers, letters, etc.; a book-box, letter-case, escritoir (not in Cic.; syn.: capsa, cista): Flaccum praetorem scrinium cum litteris, quas a legatis acceperat, codem afferre jubet, Sall. C. 46, 6: epistularum, Sen. Ira, 2, 23, 4; Plin. 7, 25, 26, § 94: vigil calamum et chartas et scrinia posco, book-boxes, Hor. Ep. 2, 1, 113; id. S. 1, 1, 120; Ov. P. 1, 1, 24; id. Tr. 1, 1, 106; Cat. 14, 17; Juv. 6, 257; Mart. 1, 3, 4; 1, 67, 6; 4, 33, 1; 6, 64, 10; Val. Max. 6, 5, 6 al.—Under the later emperors there were four kinds of public scrinia, namely, memoriae, epistularum, libellorum, and epistularum Graecarum, Cod. Th. 6, 26; Cod. Just. 12, 19; cf. Salmas. Lampr. Alex. Sev. 31.—
II. Transf., a case or casket, in gen.: unguentorum, Plin. 7, 29, 30, § 108; 13, 1, 1, § 3.

Origins

Unknown, sometimes seen as an ur-cognate with the Proto-Slavic container name *krina and derived from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to turn, bend”), /skr/ being at least a typical onset of the Indo-European language group. Similar words appear in Germanic: Swedish skrinda, skrina, skrinna, skrynna, Norwegian skrunta (“basket (backpack); wagon/sled with rib work”), originally to a sense of “twig work, plank work”, from “cut/cleft wood”, to the same root as Old High German scrintan, scrindan, Middle High German schrinden (“cleaving, cracking”), and Old High German scrunta, German Schrunde (“crack, cleft”).

Gallo-Romance
  • Catalanescriny
  • Occitanescrinh
  • Occitanesclin
  • Frenchécrinfrom Old French escrin
  • Englishscrinefrom Old French escrin
Ibero-Romance
  • Portugueseescrinho
  • Spanishescriño
Italo-Romance
  • Italianscrigno
  • Sicilianscrignu
Borrowings
  • Portugueseescrínio
  • Irishscrínfrom Old Irish scrín
  • Scottish Gaelicsgrìnfrom Old Irish scrín
  • Bretonskrinfrom Proto-Brythonic *skrin
  • Welshysgrinfrom Proto-Brythonic *skrin
  • Proto-West Germanic*skrīnī
  • Proto-West Germanic*skrīn

Quick answers

What does scrīnium mean in Latin?
scrīnium, a noun, means “case or chest for books or papers; portfolio, briefcase; desk (for writing)”.
What is the genitive of scrīnium?
The genitive singular is scrīniī. scrīnium is neuter, second declension.
How do you pronounce scrīnium?
In classical Latin, [ˈskriː.ni.ũː]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈskriː.ni.um].