asinus

Internationalism, learned borrowing from Latin acinus (“grape, grape-stone”); the histopathologic sense comes figuratively from the fancied resemblance (on microscopy) of acinic cells (acinar cells) to bunches of drupelets, berries, or grapes.

• (Standard Indonesian) IPA^(key): /aˈsinus/ [aˈsi.nʊs]
• Rhymes: -inus
• Syllabification: a‧si‧nus

asinus (uncountable)

1. acinus:
   1. (anatomy) one of the granular masses which constitute a racemose or compound gland, as the pancreas; also, one of the saccular recesses in the lobules of a racemose gland.

• “asinus” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

Usually compared to Ancient Greek ὄνος (ónos) (which cannot be its direct ancestor), and, just like other IE words for "ass", must be traced back to an unknown substrate source in Asia Minor (compare Hieroglyphic Luwian [script needed] (tarkasna), Sumerian 𒀲 (anše)). The lack of rhotacism of the single intervocalic -s- after a short vowel would point to a recent borrowing.^[1]

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): [ˈa.sɪ.nʊs]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): [ˈaː.s̬i.nus]

asinus m (genitive asinī); second declension

1. donkey, ass
3. (figuratively, humorous, derogatory) ass, cretin, idiot, dolt, blockhead, donkey (a slow-witted, inept person)

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:homo stultus

   • c. 191 BCE, Plautus, Pseudolus, act 1, scene 2:

     Neque egō hominēs magis asinōs umquam vīdī […] quōs quom feriās, tibi plūs noceās.

     I've never seen human beings who were more like asses […] When you hit them, you hurt yourself more.

   • 160 BCE, Publius Terentius Afer, Adelphoe:

     Quid tū autem huic, asine, auscultās?

     And why are you listening to him, you dolt?

   • c. 70 BCE, Cicero, In Pisonem, chapter 73:

     Quid nunc tē, asine, litterās doceam? Nōn opus est verbīs, sed fustibus.

     Must I now teach an ass like you to read? What you need isn't words but a cudgeling.

Second-declension noun.

• iūmentum (esp. used to pull carts)
• onager, onagrus (the wild ass)

asinus (feminine asina, neuter asinum); first/second-declension adjective

1. (relational) ass, donkey
2. stupid, asinine

First/second-declension adjective.

• “asinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• “asinus”, in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• "asinus", 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)
• asinus in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.