hiems

Latin

Alternative forms

• hiemps (usual but advised against by analogist grammarians)
• hyems

Etymology

From Proto-Italic *hiem-, from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰéyōm or similar.

Cognate with Ancient Greek χιών (khiṓn, “snow”), χεῖμα (kheîma, “snow”), χειμών (kheimṓn, “snow”), Persian زمستان (zemestân), Albanian dimër, Welsh gaeaf, Sanskrit हिम (himá), Hittite 𒄀𒈠𒀭 (gi-ma-an /⁠giman⁠/), Armenian ձմեռ (jmeṙ), and Proto-Slavic *zima.

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈhi.ɛmps]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈiː.ems]
• Note the epenthesis of the homorganic stop [p] required to maintain the place of articulation of the stem-final /m/, as also in sūmpsī, temptō etc.

Noun

hiems f (genitive hiemis); third declension

1. winter

   Synonym: (Late Latin) hībernum

   • 8 CE, Ovid, Fasti 3.235–236:

     quid, quod hiems adoperta gelū tunc dēnique cēdit, et pereunt lāpsae sōle tepente nivēs

     What of the fact that then frost-covered winter finally gives way, and the snows perish, melted in the warming sun; [...]. (trans. Anne and Peter Wiseman, 2011)

2. storm, stormy weather, tempest

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	hiems	hiemēs
genitive	hiemis	hiemum
dative	hiemī	hiemibus
accusative	hiemem	hiemēs
ablative	hieme	hiemibus
vocative	hiems	hiemēs

Synonyms

• hībernum

Derived terms

• bīmus
• hībernus
• hiemālis
• hiemō
• quadrīmus
• trīmus

Further reading

• “hiems”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “hiems”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891), An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "hiems", in Charles du Fresne du Cange’s Glossarium Mediæ et Infimæ Latinitatis (augmented edition with additions by D. P. Carpenterius, Adelungius and others, edited by Léopold Favre, 1883–1887)
• “hiems”, in Gaffiot, Félix (1934), Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
• Carl Meißner; Henry William Auden (1894), Latin Phrase-Book‎, London: Macmillan and Co.
  • in the height of summer, depth of winter: summa aestate, hieme
    
  • winter is at hand: hiems subest