tenus1
tenus (+ genitive, ablative)
Classical[ˈtɛ.nʊs]Ecclesiastical[ˈtɛː.nus]
Meaning
- ablativewith genitiveRight up to, as far as, just as far as
- ablativewith ablativewith genitiveUp to (a given stage of)
- ablativewith genitiveTo the maximum extent of, within
- EcclesiasticalLatinablativewith genitivelengthwise; along
Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book
- aqua est umbilīco tenus
- the water reaches to the waist.
tĕnus root ten; v. teneo, perh. orig., an acc. of direction, and hence joined with
I. gen.; afterwards a prep. with abl. (its supposed construction with the acc. rests upon a false reading in the passages, Ov. H. 12, 27; Val. Fl. 1, 537; Suet. Caes. 52, where the abl. is the true reading), prop. lengthwise, to the end; hence, as far as, up or down to, unto, to (placed after its case; mostly poet. and in post-Aug. prose; not in Cæs.).
I. In gen. ( α ) With gen. plur. (so not in the prose of Cicero):
labrorum tenus, along the lips, Lucr. 1, 940; 4, 15: lumborum tenus, as far as the loins, Cic. Arat. 83 (324): crurum tenus, Verg. G. 3, 53: laterum tenus, id. A. 10, 210: per aquam ferme genūs tenus altam, Liv. 44, 40, 8: aurium tenus, * Quint. 12, 2, 17: illi rumores Cumarum tenus caluerunt, Cael. ap. Cic. Fam. 8, 1, 2: urbium Corcyrae tenus, Liv. 26, 24, 11.—(b). With abl. (so most freq. in prose and poetry):
Tauro tenus, Cic. Deiot. 13, 36; Nep. Con. 2, 3: Arimino tenus, Suet. Aug. 30: Antio tenus, id. Tib. 38: Ostiā tenus, id. Ner. 16: Aethiopiā tenus, id. Caes. 52: erat pectoribus tenus, Liv. 21, 54, 9: inguinibus tenus, Cels. 1, 3: pube tenus, Verg. A. 3, 427: summo tenus ore, id. ib. 1, 737: collo tenus, Ov. M. 2, 275: pectoribus tenus, id. ib. 15, 512; 15, 673: poplite deinde tenus, id. ib. 5, 593: pennis tenus, id. ib. 6, 258: mediā tenus alvo, id. F. 2, 145: lateri capulo tenus abdidit ensem, Verg. A. 2, 553: poti faece tenus cadi, Hor. C. 3, 15, 16: tres regiones solo tenus dejectae, Tac. A. 15, 40 fin.: tectis tenus, id. ib. 13, 41: extollere caelo tenus, Just. 12, 6, 2.—Of time: Cantabrico tenus bello nec ultra, Suet. Aug. 85; cf.: volneribus tenus, of the fighting of gladiators, Liv. 41, 20, 12 et saep.—So the compounds, eātenus, hactenus, quātenus, quādantenus, v. h. vv.—II. In partic.
A. After, according to, by:
tertium et quartum consulatum titulo tenus gessit, Suet. Caes. 76; so, titulo tenus, id. Claud. 25; id. Dom. 1, 31: facie tenus, i. e. for the sake of appearances, App. M. 10, p. 250, 9: specie tenus, Amm. 14, 7, 5: terrore tenus, id. 16, 8, 3.—B. Verbo tenus, less freq. nomine tenus, as far as the meaning of the word extends, in name, nominally (very rare):
veteres verbo tenus ... de re publicā disserebant, Cic. Leg. 3, 6, 14; Liv. 34, 5, 4: haec verba cum affectu accipimus, non verbo tenus, Dig. 2, 2, 1 med.: usurpatas nomine tenus urbium expugnationes dictitans, Tac. A. 15, 6 fin.Origins
From Proto-Italic *tenos, from Proto-Indo-European *ten- (“to stretch, draw”). The specific etymology is debated: De Vaan suggests that it is merely a petrified accusative of extent of the s-stem *tenos and rejects Meiser's suggestion that it stems from the Proto-Indo-European perfect participle *tn̥-wós.