mendacium

Latin

Etymology

From mendāc- (“lying”, “untruthful”, oblique stem of mendāx) +‎ -ium (nominal suffix).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /menˈdaː.ki.um/, [mɛn̪ˈd̪äːkiʊ̃ˑ]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /menˈda.t͡ʃi.um/, [men̪ˈd̪äːt͡ʃium]

Noun

mendācium n (genitive mendāciī or mendācī); second declension

1. A lie, untruth, falsehood, fiction.

   Synonym: commentum

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 2.261–262:

     ‘addis’ ait ‘culpae mendācia,’ Phoebus ‘et audēs
     fātidicum verbīs fallere velle deum?’

     ‘‘So saying, [do] you add lies to your fault?’’ says Phoebus. ‘‘And [do] you dare
     wish to deceive the god of prophecy with words?’’

   • 405 CE, Jerome, Vulgate Proverbs.10.4:

     quī nītitur mendāciīs hic pāscit ventōs: idem autem ipse sequitur avēs volantēs

     He that trusteth to lies feedeth the winds: and the same runneth after birds that fly away.
     (Douay-Rheims trans., Challoner rev.; 1752 CE)

2. An illusion, counterfeit.

Declension

Second-declension noun (neuter).

	singular	plural
nominative	mendācium	mendācia
genitive	mendāciī mendācī1	mendāciōrum
dative	mendāciō	mendāciīs
accusative	mendācium	mendācia
ablative	mendāciō	mendāciīs
vocative	mendācium	mendācia

¹Found in older Latin (until the Augustan Age).

Quotations

• "Ego numquam pronuntiare mendacium sed ego sum homo indomitus." Braveheart.

Derived terms

• mendāciloquus
• mendāciunculum

Related terms

• mendāciloquium
• mendācitās
• mendāciter
• mendāx

Descendants

• Italian: mendacio

References

• “mendacium”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “mendacium”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• mendacium in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner, Henry William Auden (1894) Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • to tell lies: mendacium dicere