LATIN DICTIONARYLexicon Latīnum
adjectivefirst/second-declension adjective

vē̆rnus

vē̆rnus (feminine vē̆rna, neuter vē̆rnum)
Classical[ˈweːr.nʊs]Ecclesiastical[ˈvɛr.nus]

Meaning

  1. adjectiverelationalspring; vernal

Declension

singular
formmasculinefeminineneuter
nominativevē̆rnusvē̆rnavē̆rnum
genitivevē̆rnīvē̆rnaevē̆rnī
dativevē̆rnōvē̆rnaevē̆rnō
accusativevē̆rnumvē̆rnamvē̆rnum
ablativevē̆rnōvē̆rnāvē̆rnō
vocativevē̆rnevē̆rnavē̆rnum
plural
formmasculinefeminineneuter
nominativevē̆rnīvē̆rnaevē̆rna
genitivevē̆rnōrumvē̆rnārumvē̆rnōrum
dativevē̆rnīsvē̆rnīsvē̆rnīs
accusativevē̆rnōsvē̆rnāsvē̆rna
ablativevē̆rnīsvē̆rnīsvē̆rnīs
vocativevē̆rnīvē̆rnaevē̆rna

Phrases from Meissner's Latin Phrase-Book

suavitas verni temporis
the charms of spring.
verno, aestivo, auctumnali, hiberno tempore
in spring, summer, autumn, winter time.

vernus, a, um, v. verna, II. B.
vernus, a, um, adj. ver,
I. of or belonging to spring, spring-.
I. Adj.: tempus, Lucr. 5, 802; 6, 369; Cic. Sen. 19, 70; id. Tusc. 5, 13, 37; Hor. A. P. 302 al.: aequinoctium, Liv. 33, 3, 5; Varr. R. R. 1, 28, 2; Col. 9, 14, 4: species diei, Lucr. 1, 10: venti, Hor. C. 4, 4, 7: frigus, Ov. M. 14, 763: flores, id. ib. 5, 554; Hor. C. 2, 11, 10: rosa, Prop. 3 (4), 4, 22. agni (opp. hiberni), Plin. 8, 47, 72, § 187: opera, id. 18, 26, 65, § 243: verno tempore, Amm. 15, 10, 4.—
II. Subst.: vernum, i, n., spring-time, the spring (late Lat. but in abl. post-Aug.); nom., Tert. Res. Carn. 12 med.; id. Spect. 9; gen., id. Jud. Dom. 2; Amm. 18, 4, 1; abl. verno, in the spring, Cato, R. R. 54, 3; Col. 4, 10, 3; Plin. 19, 5, 30, § 95: anni verno, Amm. 15, 10, 4.

Origins

Ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ (“spring”) (also reconstructed alternatively as *wésr̥ or *wḗsr̥), the root of Latin vēr (“spring”). The details of the derivation differ between sources. Possibly the reflex of a deadverbial adjective in *-no- built on a locative form of the Proto-Indo-European *wósr̥ /*wésr̥ /*wḗsr̥ noun. According to one hypothesis, *vērno- developed from syncope of *-i- in a pre-form *vēri-no-, built on a reconstructed locative singular case-form *vēri (compare the leveled stem vēr- seen in inflected forms of the Latin noun vēr). Gąsiorowski 2012 instead proposes the following derivation from the PIE locative stem *wesri, where the final Latin form vernus results from haplology or syncope of *er: *wesri-no- → *wezr̥₂no- → *wererno- → vernus. As an alternative to derivation from a locative form, De Vaan suggests that the word could come from *wesinos (with rhotacism of *s and syncope of *i). By surface analysis, vēr + -nus.

In English words that came into English from vē̆rnus

  • vernationvernātiō
  • vernantvernans

Quick answers

What does vē̆rnus mean in Latin?
vē̆rnus, a adjective, means “spring; vernal”.
How do you pronounce vē̆rnus?
In classical Latin, [ˈweːr.nʊs]; in ecclesiastical (church) Latin, [ˈvɛr.nus].