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, “winter, storm”), χειμών (kheimṓn, “winter, storm”), 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

   Synonyms: procella, imber, tempestās

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, 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