pientissimus
Latin
Etymology
Originally an irregular superlative of pius, due to pressure against the standard superlative piissimus, resulting in the back-formation of the positive form piēns (“pious”).
Pronunciation
- (Classical Latin) IPA(key): [pi.ɛnˈtɪs.sɪ.mʊs]
- (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA(key): [pi.en̪ˈt̪is.si.mus]
Adjective
pientissimus (superlative, feminine pientissima, neuter pientissimum); first/second declension
Declension
First/second-declension adjective.
| singular | plural | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| masculine | feminine | neuter | masculine | feminine | neuter | ||
| nominative | pientissimus | pientissima | pientissimum | pientissimī | pientissimae | pientissima | |
| genitive | pientissimī | pientissimae | pientissimī | pientissimōrum | pientissimārum | pientissimōrum | |
| dative | pientissimō | pientissimae | pientissimō | pientissimīs | |||
| accusative | pientissimum | pientissimam | pientissimum | pientissimōs | pientissimās | pientissima | |
| ablative | pientissimō | pientissimā | pientissimō | pientissimīs | |||
| vocative | pientissime | pientissima | pientissimum | pientissimī | pientissimae | pientissima | |
Derived terms
- piēns
- pientior
References
- Tantimonaco, Silvia (2021) “Piissimus and pientissimus: two nonexistent superlatives of pius?”, in Journal of Latin Linguistics[1], volume 19, number 2, archived from the original on 11 July 2025, pages 281–307